


Warriors : Truth-Seekers

by Call_It_Something_Normal



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: ...probably, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Character Death, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Friendship, Multi, Murder Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, RiverClan (Warriors), ShadowClan (Warriors), Tags Are Hard, ThunderClan (Warriors), WindClan (Warriors)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 44,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28899513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Call_It_Something_Normal/pseuds/Call_It_Something_Normal
Summary: Wishpaw isn't living the happiest life. He'd much rather spend a day moping in the medicine-den then be outside, hearing his clanmates talk behind his back. But when cats start dying, seemingly all to the same mysterious killer AND with the arrival of a group of rogues, Wishpaw will find himself working with cats he never dreamed would help him, much less begin to befriend him.
Relationships: OC/OC





	1. Wishpaw's Awakening

_Wishpaw was drowning._

_He hated the feeling. The rush of water into his lungs. The way the world around him went blurry and dark. The shock that blasted through him as his fur seemed to soak up all the water it could, dragging him even further into the dark depths._

_He thrashed about wildly with his paws, hoping to rise, hoping to not have to die in such a horrid place. But no matter how much he struggled, no matter how hard he wanted it, he couldn't find a way to rise back to the surface. His body wanted him to scream, but any time he opened his mouth an almost impossible amount of water seemed to trespass into his lungs._

_Was he going to die?_

"Robinwing…?"

_Suddenly, everything shifted. The water was gone, along with the blurry darkness that was Wishpaw's nightmare._

"Robinwing…should…should I just come in or…?"

_No, he was some place else now. The ground wasn't wet, but it was freezing. His paws practically felt like they were pressing against ice, sending yet another shock through his body._

"I'm…I'm gonna come in now."

_True, the blur of the water was gone, but now it was replaced with something Wishpaw had only seen once, a long time ago when he was just a small kit._

_Fog. Fog seemed to have formed in all directions around him, hiding wherever he was from his vision. His memory of fog wasn't a bad one…but for some reason this fog was sending more chills through his body._

"Guess she's not-oh!"

_Eyes. Dark, piercing eyes were cutting through the fog and looking straight at him. And whatever the eyes belonged to was getting clo-_

"Wishpaw?"

Wishpaw's eyes snapped opened as as paw tapped him lightly on his back. It took all his willpower not to let out a squeak and fling himself away from the cat who had touched him. In all honesty, if he hadn't been able to recognize the voice he probably would have.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down, refusing to look so frantic in front of a clanmate. He pretended to blink sleepily as he flipped over to look at the cat, his suspicions of who it was being confirmed immediately.

"Leafpaw." He greeted, faking a yawn. "Do you make it a habit of waking cats who are sleeping?"

The she-cat gave a sad smile. "Don't really get a chance to, sleeping in the apprentice-den all by myself." The smile gained more of a concerned tinge to it. "Sorry for waking you, really, but…are you okay? You were muttering in your sleep."

Wishpaw had to stop himself from groaning. He'd been warned about his sleep-talking, but it was usually only his mentor who had to listen to his mutterings.

He got into a more comfortable position as he looked to Leafpaw, wearing a confused expression. "I was talking? About what?"

"It…it was about water o-o-or fog or something?" She said, doubt in her voice. "You…you just sounded really worried so I thought I should wake you up." She added after in a mutter. "It's also kinda, sorta past sunhigh…"

He stopped a sigh of relief. Good. He hadn't said anything silly or embarrassing. "Well…thanks. They weren't too bad, but still not something I'd wanna sleep through." He decided that it was time to change the subject. "So, what brings you to the Medicine-den? I'm assuming you came in for a good reason?"

Leafpaw nodded quickly. "Yeah. Yeah, of course. It's just…um…well…."

Her eyes shifted about the room, as if hoping that Wishpaw's mentor would simply appear from thin air. He stayed silent, waiting for her to continue, watching her futile search of the Medicine-Den.

After a few more beats of silence he decided to give the poor she-cat a break, finally speaking up. "Robinwing isn't here. I was half awake at the time, but I think she said something about heading out to the Riverclan border. Probably going to collect some herbs. Anyway." He sat up, giving a stretch. "What do you need?"

"S-shouldn't we wait for her to get back? I mean, she's your mentor and she's still training you and you seem kinda sleepy and….." Leafpaw trailed off, seeming to take a sudden interest in the brambles that made up the walls of the den.

"Is someone dying?" He asked flatly.

"…..no."

"Then I can probably handle it." Wishpaw said. He turned, padding over to the herb-storage that rested at the back of the den.

"I…" She seemed to have a quick internal argument with herself before beginning to nod. "Right. Of course you can. You can do this. You can do this."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." His eyes scanned over the collection of herbs. Leafpaw's nervousness made him a little excited, as morbid as it would seem. Perhaps he'd be dealing with something big? "So, what's the issue?"

"…so, uh, Lakeheart sorta found out that her kits are going to be apprenticed today and she's sorta maybe freaking out about it and that's making her kits nervous a-and she asked if I could get her something to…calm…her down." She slowed her speech as Wishpaw looked to her, the disappointment evident in his eyes.

He looked back to the herbs, sighing. "Give her one of these." He rolled a poppyseed towards her, looking at all the fascinating herbs he wouldn't get to try out. "Should make her feel better. Do you think the kits will need some?"

"No, no their just a little worried about her." She nodded. "Thanks, Wishpaw. S-sorry for doubting-"

"It's fine." He pretended to be organizing the herbs, shifting them around a little. "Just make sure Lakeheart calms down."

"Right. I will. Thanks." She added again. Wishpaw listenend to her pawsteps as she left the den, staring down at the different cures.

Would Robinwing had handled that any different? Probably. For one Leafpaw wouldn't have been so unsure about letting him handle the situation. Robinwing also probably wouldn't have been dissapointed that something more interesting hadn't happened…..not outwardly anyway.

Robinwing wouldn't be sleeping in until past sunhigh inside the Medicine-den.

He waited a few more beats, just to make sure he didn't exit right after Leafpaw. Looking up at the section of the den that opened up to the sky, he took it in. Blue and practically without any clouds. Would have been a wonderful day to keep napping.

Stepping out of the den, he took in the quiet sight that was Shadowclan Camp.

Had Wishpaw ever seen the other clans camps? No. Was he a little biased towards his own? Yes. However, this didn't change the fact that there was no doubt Shadowclan Camp was the best out there.

The way the warrior's den faced towards the entrance in case any cat was stupid enough to make themselves an intruder. The way the Leader's den sat under a particularly large pine that cast a darker shadow then any other tree in the woods. Wishpaw had no desire to become leader, but there was a part of him that wished he could sit up on the branch that Brightstar made her announcements from.

True, some cats may have called the camp too dark or gloomy. But personally? That was one of the best parts about the territory for him. Plenty of places to skulk around in the shadows. Plenty of places to hide a get a quick nap in where no-one could find you.

Shadowclan was the best. That's really all there was to say on the matter.

Something about the camp today did strike him as odd however. It seemed strangely empty. Sure, Leafpaw could be seen speaking to two Queens outside of the Nursery and a single, ginger warrior lounged by the fresh-kill pile. But other then that? Well, it was the first time that Wishpaw had seen the place so barren.

Speaking of the fresh-kill pile, the warrior who sat at it turned to look at Wishpaw as he took in the camp. When their eyes met he motioned for the apprentice to come over with his tail. Not wanting to seem rude, and being a little hungry, he padded over to the ginger cat.

Wishpaw sat next to the Warrior and gave a nod in greeting, picking out a particularly small mouse. "Wildway."

The warrior snorted, rolling his eyes, speaking in his rough voice. "Yes, that _is_ my name. Kit, ya gotta put a little more effort into a greeting then just saying someone's name."

Wishpaw nibbled the mouse a little as he ignored the 'kit' comment. "Wildway."

Suddenly, matching Wishpaw's expression, Wildway imitated his deadpan stare with a, "Wishpaw," before cringing. "Bleh, see it sounds weird. So…disconnected. Try something more like this…" Wildways face broke into a toothy grin. "Hey Wishpaw. Good to see you out and about."

"Did you call me over here to teach me about greetings or did you need something?"

"Nah, my mentor never went over greetings with me, so I don't think I'm qualified to teach such a confusing subject." Wildway joked, finishing off the toad he had been chewing. "But there are _plenty_ of things I can teach."

He watched the Warrior intently for a moment before responding. "Well, maybe you should talk to Brightstar about getting an apprentice then. I don't know if you noticed which den I walked out of but I already have a-"

"Oh cmon!" The warrior said suddenly, tilting his head in an odd manner. "Look, Robinwing was bragging JUST today about how quickly you were getting the hang of herbs and all that stuff. Don't ya wanna learn something else? I could show you a few basic battle-moves. We'll stop as soon as she gets back."

"Hard pass." Wishpaw gobbled up the last of his mouse. "It took me long enough to convince her to push battle-training back. If I didn't want to do it with her why would I want to do it with you?"

"Argh. My feelings. Your words torture me."

Wishpaw suppressed a smile and rolled his eyes. "No, no they don't."

Wildway moved his body yet again, seemingly unable to find a comfortable position to sit. "Yeah they don't. Anyway, what's with the way you stumbled out of the Medicine-den? Looking for someone?"

"Just wondering where everyone is. Clan seems sorta empty."

"Hey, new-leaf is finally here. Just about everyone was itching to go get some proper hunting done. Surprised you didn't go with em to be honest. Not use to the camp NOT being covered in snow already are ya?"

"I'm happy to see it gone, but not happy enough to wander off somewhere else because of it." As Wishpaw spoke, Wildway changed how he sat yet again. "….so…uh, are you really the only warrior here?"

Again, Wildway changed how he sat, sitting up to as tall as he could make himself. "Nah, Waspfang is in the warrior's den. That's why I ain't in there myself!" He snickered at his own joke before adding hastily, "Don't tell her I said that."

Before Wishpaw could come up with a response, Wildway shifted his whole body yet again. "Oh for- honestly, what are you doing?" He hissed at the warrior, craning his neck to look past him to see whatever it was he was trying to hide.

At first he was confused. The only things that sat behind Wildway were the various dens of Shadowclan's Camp. The only thing that drew really any attention was the three cats outside the nursery, Leafpaw, Lakeheart and another queen named Toadleap. He had been about to look away when he saw the look on Leafpaw's face.

To say she looked uncomfortable would be an understatement. The way her paws were shifting told him that there were a number of places Leafpaw would rather be at the current moment. When their eyes met, Leafpaw's darted quickly to the Queens before going to the ground.

Of course, that's where Wishpaw's eyes went next. The Queens hadn't seemed to notice Leafpaw's feelings, being engrossed in some sort of conversation. The topic of which became quite clear when he saw that the two queens were looking directly at him. He saw Lakeheart's mouth make one word.

_Mother._

Wishpaw felt like water had been dumped over his head. Every muscle on his body seemed to tense up, even as the two queens looked away quickly. He suddenly felt exactly as Leafpaw seemed to. Right now, he wanted to be anywhere other then Shadowclan Camp.

Wildway must've seen the way the small apprentice had tensed up, sighing and assuming a normal sitting position. "….sorry, kit. I heard em talking before you came out. Thought I would…"

"That's why you wanted to do training." Wishpaw mummered. He suddenly found himself rising to his paws. He was determined to get out of camp as quickly as he could. "I'm leaving."

He could feel numerous eyes on him as he sped out of the camp, weaving through the brambles that made up the wall of the clan's camp, only one brushing against his pelt at the edge of the wall. He barely felt it, his body having gone numb.

Robinwing. He needed to find his mentor right now. Not to talk about…that, no never about that. But she would give him something to take his mind off of it. He had been avoiding every hint of the subject as best as he could and he wasn't about to fail now.

He forced his mind to take in his surroundings instead. He rarely went too far from the camp by himself. The furthest he had ever gone had been on his second day of training, when Robinwing took him out to see the territories. Pine trees littered all of the territory, only ever making space for the odd clearing or two. There was the rundown twoleg-nest to the north, but even warriors tended to avoid that place.

But for now he was heading away from that place. To the south was the Thunderpath, the thing that separated the Riverclan territory from Shadowclan's. Just needed to find Robinwing and then he'd be feeling fine.

It took a fair amount of hurried walking, but he eventually found himself at the long stretch of black stone that made up the Thunderpath. He had only heard stories, but the road was suppose to become busy with the Twoleg's monsters around greenleaf. Putting aside the danger of the Twolegs, some good did come with it. Odd pieces of food they'd leave behind and the like. Wishpaw found himself looking forward to seeing what wonders the odd creatures would bring.

He was ripped from his thoughts by a yell, coming from the Riverclan side of the border.

"HEY! SHADOWCLAN CAT!"

Wishpaw shook his head and peered over the way to see a large, brown furred warrior looking back at him, suspicion blazing in his eyes. The warriors tail lashed about wildly as he glared at Wishpaw.

"What do you want?" Wishpaw asked. He'd come across cats from other clans at the border before, but he'd always had another cat with him for the confrontation.

The warrior rolled his eyes. "Typical Shadowclan. You all sneak about, right? Skulking around in the shadows like-"

"Shadow is quite literally in our clan-name, so that would be the implication." Wishpaw found himself short on patience. "Get to the point."

A growl came from the cat. "You've been sneaking onto our territory, haven't you? Don't lie, I KNOW I spotted a white furred fuzz-ball on our territory earlier. Fess up."

He hissed back. "You're kidding, right? There must be plenty of white furred cats in the forest. As if I'd want to visit your territory in the first place. The stench of wish would drive me out in no-time."

"Stench won't need to do anything once I get my claws on you, you little-"

"Sounds like you two are having a _passionate_ conversation."

A weight felt like it had been lifted as Wishpaw heard the carefree voice emerge from woods, bringing with it the fluffy form that was Robinwing. Wishpaw wasn't surprised to see that knowing smile on her face as she surveyed the situation. However, what did surprise him was the two cats who seemed to be following her, both with black fur. The larger one may have looked thin, but his form seemed to hide muscles underneath it.

The smaller one, seeming to be around the same age as Wishpaw had a interested look on her face, watching him with her large amber eyes, tail flickering wildly.

"…you're the medicine cat for Shadowclan…" The Riverclan warrior said, almost to himself. His tone had become far more subdued as he tilted his head.

"Sure am. Things haven't changed since last Gathering." Robinwing too, tilted her head. "Let's see….Maggotpaw, right? I remember Breakerstar mentioning you at the last gathering. How's life been? You and my apprentice having a good talk, yeah?"

Wishpaw looked to the apparent apprentice with surprise. He was larger then some Shadowclan warriors.

No matter his size, the apprentice, Maggotpaw, looked taken aback by Robinwing's words. "….fine." He sat down, seeming to sort a few things out in his head. "…what was your apprentice doing at our border?"

"Oh, I told him to grab me some green-paw from here. Been looking all over the territory this morning but we're not seeming to have much luck." Her laugh drifted across the path like a breeze. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I have a mission for you."

The intense look of hostility returned to Maggotpaw. "Why would I help Shad-"

"Not Shadowclan. These two-" She nodded to the two odd cats behind her, "-need some help. Just need to be escorted to the Windclan border on your side."

"I'm NOT going to help some random lon-"

"Oh, if your worried about getting in trouble, just show them to a patrol of senior warriors. They'll know who they are. Surely Riverclan's elders have told you a story or two about a cat named Coal?"

The Thunderpath went silent with her words, both apprentices taking in the information. Wishpaw had never heard of the cat, but he had never been too big on stories.

He looked a little closer at the dark cats. While the larger one looked between Robinwing and Maggotpaw with a calm stare, the smaller one met Wishpaw's gaze and shot him a smug smile.

Finally, Maggotpaw nodded. "I'll show them to a patrol on the way over. But if this is trick…..well, it better not be a trick."

Robinwing placed a paw to her chest. "You have my word as a medicine cat that we mean no harm."

At last the apprentice nodded. "Fine. You two, follow me and stay close."

The large, black cat spoke. "You have my thanks, Robinwing. If you hadn't been there we-"

"Oh my- can we PLEASE get moving?" The smaller one practically hissed, pushing at the cat. "I am SO tired of walking. Let's get to the camp already!"

Robinwing shrugged. "Don't mention it. We all owe you one. Now get moving before the little one attracts another patrol."

The two cats crossed the road and followed the grumpy, yet curious looking apprentice, disappearing into the trees of Riverclan's territory.

Once he was certain the cats were gone, Wishpaw looked up to his mentor. "I have questions."

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't." Robinwing laughed.

"That herb you _said_ you sent me here for, green-paw. What is it?"

"A big old lie, that's what it is. Made it up on the spot. Pretty good name though, eh?"

Wishpaw rolled his eyes before continuing. "Who's Coal?"

She blinked, looking down at her apprentice with mild surprise. "….seriously? Huh. Remind me to tell you some stories later, looks like the elders have been slacking." She looked back across the path fondly. "That tom helped the clans during the Great-Return, back when I was an apprentice. He never came with us to the lake, but it seems he's changed his mind."

She sighed. "Shame. He's an amazing fighter. Always had a fondness for Windclan though."

"So we're just giving Windclan another warrior?" He shook his head. "You know Brightstar won't be happy about this."

"Oh, she isn't it. It was her patrol who found them at first. Lucky I had chosen to switch my herb-hunt for a nice walk. I'm guessing you were out for one of your own?"

He banished the thoughts before they even appeared. "Something like that. If you didn't get any herbs, I'm guessing that's what we're doing now?"

She let out a purr, beginning to walk. "Oh, I _like_ that we. Come on, if we gather enough in time we can get in a snack before a certain clan-meeting."

A breeze blew through the forest as Wishpaw followed his mentor, pulling his mind off of the new cats. It was unlikely that he'd get to know them too well after all.

* * *

Gathering herbs, was in Wishpaw's opinion, one of the best parts of being a medicine cat. It gave him and Robinwing plenty of time to talk as they harvest what they could. The smaller cat had been Coal's daughter, Belle, someone who Robinwing agreed also seemed rather smug. Wishpaw thought that made her a perfect fit for Windclan, much to Robinwing's glee.

The sun was beginning to set as they made their way back, the two of them entering the Medicine-den while discussing a very important topic.

"What would it look like though?" Robinwing questioned, placing the newly gathered herbs at the back of the den.

"It'd be green, I guess." Wishpaw responded. "Green-paw…I'm picturing a sort of ball shape, maybe something like a poppy seed?"

"Really? I was thinking some paw shaped petals or something. Just make em green to match the name." Robinwing's tail twitched curiously. "Can petals be green?"

Wishpaw yawned. "I don't see why not. What even decides what colour-" His ear twitched and he tensed up, adopting a blank expression. "We have a visitor."

Sure enough, a rather large Warrior stomped his way into the den as Robinwing turned curiously. "Oh, Halfheart, hello there. What brings the clan deputy to our little home of herbs?"

Wishpaw had chosen to spend a lot of his early apprenticeship sleeping. Most cats of Shadowclan had either respected that due to…certain events, or had ignored him entirely. But the clan deputy, Halfheart?

Well…Wishpaw had been a decently well-behaved kit, so getting his first lecture after being woken up so suddenly had given him a poor impression of the deputy. An impression the deputy shared.

"Robinwing, good to see you made it back." There was an edge to Halfheart's voice. He turned to meet Wishpaw's blank face of his own. "Wishpaw…..good to see you awake."

Wishpaw didn't bother to respond, instead deciding to keep his icy glare trained on Halfheart, who also refused to break eye-contact.

The stare-down lasted until Robinwing broke the silence with a, "Halfheart, you MUST have better things to do then try and intimidate an apprentice."

He huffed, looking away from Wishpaw. "Of course I do. Brightstar wanted me to talk to you about a little change that she's been planning."

"Well, let's hear it."

"I was planning to tell you in private." Halfheart said haughtily, casting a look at Wishpaw who kept up his cold glare.

Without hesitation, Robinwing spoke. "Anything I can hear, Wishpaw can hear."

A warm, fuzzy feeling appeared in Wishpaw's chest, only growing as Robinwing continued. "He's advancing quickly in his training. I have my reasons for allowing so many naps-"

Halfheart snapped, "Fine. This concerns him too." If that hadn't been enough to worry Wishpaw, the smile that crossed the deputy's face was.

"As others clans ranks begin to grow, Brightstar believes we must do the same. She was happy with the new apprentices we'd be appointing today, but seeing as Windclan just added you-know-who to their clan, she believes that we may need a _little_ extra power. So I will now be mentoring Wishpaw."

Robinwing's face went blank. "What?"

"WHAT?!" Wishpaw yowled.

"Hm? Oh, sorry, let me try that again. I will be _half_ -mentoring Wishpaw. Seeing as how much you brag about how easily he is grasping a medicine cat's duties, he can probably handle the odd training session on the side, right?" The tom seemed to be taking immense pleasure in the shock on the two's face.

Robinwing began trying to regain her carefree face, but there was traces of worry tainting it. "I wasn't told about this."

"WHAT?!" Wishpaw yowled, again.

"Be quiet." Halfheart ordered before continung. "You are being told. Right now. If you want to go try and change her mind on this I _encourage_ it. I just ask that you let me be there. Brightstar seemed quite determined on this and I do so want to see how you worm your way out of this one."

"WHAT?!" Wishpaw yowled, yet again.

"Wishpaw, if you need a poppyseed you know where they are." Robinwing advised, a smile suddenly forming on her face. "Alright then. You'll be ready to train him by tomorrow?"

This time it was Halfheart's turn to blanch. "What?"

"WH-"

Receiving a shush from both cats, Wishpaw simply chose to stare at his mentor, horrified at her devious betrayal.

"I thought what I asked was quite clear." Robinwing tilted her head, smiling at the deputy. "You'll be ready to train him tomorrow? I'll need to plan my own session to work around yours of course."

"I…y-yeah. Of course I will be." Halfheart's fun seemed to have taken quite a hit from Robinwing's sudden confidence. "Just…make sure he gets enough sleep."

"Funny." Robinwing laughed. "Unless you need something else, you probably have other matters to attend to, hm?"

"Of course I do." He scoffed, leaving the den with a quick, "Be ready for tomorrow."

As soon as the tom had left the den Wishpaw spun round to his mentor. "What. Was. That?"

Robinwing blinked in surprise at him. "You're going to have two mentors now. I thought the arrogant fuzzball was quite clear on that."

"And you just _accepted_ that?" He hissed. "Robinwing, you know I don't like fighting. You said you'd put it off for as long as you could!"

"And I have. Sorry to repeat myself, but could you lower your volume a little?"

He began to pace the den. "Tell me you have a plan. You got all…smiley towards the end there."

"Oh….heh. That." Her laugh was tinged with nervousness this time. "Yeah….I didn't like how smug he was acting, so I just kinda pretended I had thought of something. Seemed to work well though, right?"

"Yeah well, I don't think some fake smiles are going to get me out of training with Halfheart."

"Maybe you shouldn't try and get out of it."

"But I-"

Robinwing placed a paw on his tail to stop him from pacing. "Wishpaw, I know you've had a...much rougher time then you deserved, but sleeping your way through things you don't want to deal with isn't a good way of handling it. Besides, you'll talk to far more cats training with Halfheart then you would spending all your time here. It'll be good for you."

"….but I don't want to." Starclan, he hated how much like a kit he sounded.

"Eh, sometimes we just have to do things we don't want to." She perked up a little. "If you do end up being miserable, I'll….well, like I said, I haven't thought that far yet, but I'll do _something_."

"…whatever." Wishpaw said aloud, giving her a thankful tip with his tail. "I'm gonna try and nap a little before the-"

A cold, calm voice echoed into the den from the camp. "All cats old enough to weave through the shadows, gather beneath the high-branch for a clan meeting!"

…deep breath in…deep breath out. "Alright, guess we're doing that now."

"The curse of the medicine cat. We must set an example for others to follow." She flicked his nose as she padded out. "Cmon, let's go see how proudly Halfheart can sit beside Brightstar."

Numbly nodding, Wishpaw followed in his mentors steps.

Well. Soon to be only one of his mentors anyway.

* * *

**Cats &Characters**

( _Wishpaw_ )

_The somber looking Shadowclan medicine cat apprentice. He can usually be found sleeping somewhere, though he'll help you out with whatever herb related need you have if you wake him. Just don't expect a smile. Not much is known about the young tom outside of his clan, though whispers at a recent gathering say something horrible happened to his parents. Some wonder if he was a different cat before the event._

_Despite his attitude, the whispers also say he's a medicine cat prodigy, picking up the craft quickly. His mentor, Robinwing can usually be found telling others about his skills. The two seem quite close._


	2. Freepaw's Arrival

If her father made one more stop off to talk to some "old friends", Bell was going to lose her mind.

They'd been traveling for what felt like moons now, and whenever they found a cat, her father would seemingly just _have_ to stop and talk to them. When they had finally arrived at the admittedly beautiful sight that was the lake, Bell had thought that it would be a simple matter of dashing through enemy territory to their new home.

But no. First they had met some sort of patrol that was from….what was it? Shadowclan! Yes, they'd ran into a gang of the cats from that shadowy territory (Who Bell was pretty sure were evil? Shadowclan, shadowy place, and some of the stories her father had told her….yeesh.) And then the patrol of cats had demanded that their leader, Brightstar see them first.

Bell was a confidant cat. Heck, her father had made something of a habit of telling her to not get too cocky. But when she had seen the leader of Shadowclan, Brightstar?

….well. Bell had gotten a very odd feeling in her stomach that had kept her mouth shut for the entire meeting. She had briefly wondered if they were going to be attacked by the patrol, but thankfully that nice cat had shown up, Robinwing or whatever her name was.

Bell had liked her. She had almost seemed happy to answer Bell's questions. And her apprentice had seemed….blank? Better then hostile…

But then there was this new cat…

"Hey." She said, making sure to leap over the small stream they passed, having no love for water. "Maggotpaw, right?"

The large tom kept ahead of her, not even sparing a glance in Bell's direction. He must not have heard her.

"Fish-smelling cat. You. Hey." With no reaction, she increased the volume of her voice. "Oi! Maggot-"

At last he spoke, in a deep, very annoyed voice. "Don't talk to me."

"Relax. I just wanna ask you some questions." She rolled her eyes. Honestly, these cats needed to loosen up a bit. "Anyway. You're part of…Riverclan, right? What's it like to swim in water? Can't stand the stuff myself, but you seem to enjoy it, judging by the smell on your-"

This time Maggotpaw actually stopped, turning to look at her with bored looking eyes. "You mention how I smell one more time? You're going to show up to Windclan without your _ears_."

Bell blinked, staying where she was as the cat walked on as if the threat hadn't even happened. After a moment she shook her head and called out, "That right? I'd like to see you try you bag of-"

Coal's tail tipped her shoulder as he passed her. "Bell, please don't anger the cat who's acting as our guide."

She scoffed, hurrying to keep pace with her father. "He's the one who went off at me. I just wanted to ask him some-"

"Maggotpaw is aware that we will be joining Windclan. It's reasonable for him to not want you pestering him."

"Robinwing didn't mind me _pestering_ her."

Most cats wouldn't have noticed, but Bell was able to recognize the small smile that grew across her father's face. "Robinpaw-….Robin _wing_ -" He corrected himself, "-is a special case. If you had ask Brightstar anything….well, I imagine she'd say something worse then a threat."

Bell's mind almost went back to the thought of the cat with the cold eyes, but she banished the thought quickly. "Speaking of her, what's the deal? She seemed kinda surprised that you weren't joining Shadowclan. Pretty much the only emotion she showed actually." She shivered her coat to add emphasis.

"Long story." Coal answered, following Maggotpaw's example of hopping across a few rocks.

"Long story, _long story!_ " She said, performing the same hops, if with a little more flourish. "Why is it-" They leaped over a shallow stream, "-whenever I ask about clan stories you have no problem telling them-" Maggotpaw took a sharp left, "-but if I ask for a story about YOUR time with the clans, it's a _long story_."

Coal shook his head. "They weren't clans when I was traveling with them…well, not really."

"Something I'd know if you told me about it." Bell sighed, relenting. She'd bugged her father for years, only ever managing to get scraps of info about his time with the clan cats. Something about a cloud, some roses and a tunnel? It was hard to put the pieces together. "Why are we joining W-"

Maggotpaw called out from ahead of them, "This is the border to Windclan. Keep heading in this direction, don't wander off into the twoleg places and you'll get there eventually."

As Bell took in the open fields and odd twoleg structures in the distance, her father looked to Maggotpaw in surprise. "…I believe that you told Robinwing you would tell a patrol-"

"We didn't run into one. Not like I'm gonna take you deeper into the territory."

"But as an apprentice, don't you think you should-"

"No."

Bell snorted. "Not very chat-"

"Get off the territory."

Maggotpaw watched the two leave before strolling off in a new direction. Bell couldn't help but cast a look back at the massive apprentice as she and her father padded along the side of the twoleg fence. She recognized the area as a farm and wondered briefly if it was really safe for clan cats to live so close to such a place.

Oh, but if she were to speak of this to her father, he'd probably laugh. They were _clan cats_ after all, so of course they'd be fine.

"I hope you're not like that."

She looked up from the ground, awoken from her thoughts by her father's slow tone. "Like what?"

"Like that apprentice. Either the clans have changed more then I thought or he was just…well, very _rude_." He shook his head. "I can only hope he's taught a lesson when his mentor finds out that he escorted us without telling anyone."

She put on a grin. "Oh don't worry. When _I'm_ escorting odd cats across our territory, I'm gonna tell them _all_ of our secrets."

"….you…you _are_ joking, yes?"

"Dunno." She sighed, looking off at the moor that lay ahead of them. "Haven't decided yet."

Coal watched her for a few beats before nodding slowly and turning to continue their trek across the land. Bell loved her father, she really did, but he could really loosen up a bit.

Her mind flowed to the two apprentices she had met. Maggotpaw had seemed a bit rude. At first she assumed it was because he was concerned with defending their territory, but wouldn't he have taken them to a patrol if that was the real reason for his grumpiness?

And then there was the other one, Robinwing's apprentice, the sleek looking cat with the glassy looking eyes. Wishpaw had been the name Robinwing had told her, having not been able to shut up about how wonderful he was when Bell had asked her about the topic of apprentices. But he hadn't seemed like anything special…

Bell quickened her pace a little. She WAS going to be something special. She had to be.

And she wouldn't rest until she was.

…..

She hid a smirk. What kind of name was _Maggotpaw_ anyway?

* * *

"STOP! How _dare_ you trespass on Windclan territory!"

Raising her eyes to a hill they had been passing, Bell saw a cat about her size glaring down at them. Instantly, a grin grew across her face.

"About time! Was beginning to wonder how long we'd have to walk before we ran into a patrol." She looked to her father who was gazing up at the cat with a neutral expression. "Shadowclan found us way faster then that."

"Bell, please don't insult every cat we meet." Coal whispered, next calling out to the cat, "We're not here to steal prey or trespass. We've come to join Windclan."

The cat rolled his eyes. "Yeah right! Why would two loners want to join-"

Another cat emerged, this one larger then the last. "Skippaw, I'll handle this." Looking down at Coal and Bell, the light-furred cat adopted a sneer. "I don't know why a couple of loners would…be…" his expression softened as he trailed off. "…Coal?"

Coal, who had been keeping his blank face, cracked a smile as the cat said his name. "Greenclaw. Did you…cut your ear?"

Greenclaw let out a meow of laughter and charged down from the hill. Both Skippaw and Bell tensed but the warrior only began to circle Coal, breathing in his scent. "It _really_ is you. Few seasons late but…you're here." His eyes flickered to Bell. "…and with company."

"Bell, this is Greenclaw, Greenclaw, this is Bell, my daughter."

Bell gave a nod and the warrior scoffed. "Yeah, figured that out for myself. Starclan, it's like looking at a she-cat version of you."

"I'm like him in other ways too." Bell puffed her chest out proudly. "He's taught me _everything_ he knows about hunting, fighting and-" She stopped, looking at her father. "What? Why are you shaking your head?"

The older cats laughed, Coal giving her a small tip on the shoulder with his tail. "She's getting there, but she needs more training. Should be around the right age for an apprentice too. You think Sharpenedstar would mind taking her on too?"

An even bigger grin spread across Greenclaw's face. "Oh, that's _right!_ You don't even know…" He turned and the three of them began to make their way up the hill, towards the confused Skippaw. "Hate to be the one to tell ya, but Sharpenedstar passed a little while after you left us. Windclan's got a new leader now."

"His deputy was…" Coal searched for a name. "Brownear, right?"

"Yep. Well, he was leader for a bit, but he passed too, though he did it in the comfort of the elders den. Nah, we got someone else."

It was rare for Bell to see her father's tail flicker in irritation, but there it went. "Who?" The tone of his voice didn't betray the same feelings as his tail.

"Guess."

Bell rolled her eyes, letting the two toms outpace her, her father listing out names while Greenclaw shook his head, usually with a snicker. Not that listening to the names of cats she didn't know wasn't _incredibly_ fascinating, but it seemed like she'd have to make her own entertainment on the way to Windclan.

"Hey, Skippaw, right?"

The apprentice had been looking at the ground, deep in thought, raised his green eyes to meet Bell's, suspicion still shining in them, "I don't think we should talk. Until you properly join the clan."

"Look, I've had pretty much no-one to talk to but my father for what feels like _moons_. If you _don't_ talk to me, I might _lose my mind_." She nodded as seriously as she could, stopping a giggle upon seeing the cat seriously consider her words.

He looked ahead, checking to see if his mentor was still engrossed in conversation. Bell was thrilled to see him nod. "Fine, what do you want to talk about?"

"Anything. Tell me about…clan life or something. What's Windclan actually like?"

Skippaw's eyes finally cleared of suspicion, now replaced with shining enthusiasm. "It's great of course! We're the best clan around, fastest and strongest too. Not to mention that we're the closest to Starclan. Every clan likes to _pretend_ it's them, but we even sleep under the stars. As if those fleabags in Thunderclan could show that kind of dedication!"

Bell joined in with his laughter, even if she didn't really find the comment funny. She imagined every clan believed themselves to be the best. As for the Starclan thing, sleeping without shelter just seemed silly.

Her laughter seemed to have it's intended effect, Skippaw seeming much cheerier. "I've never met a loner before, but from what I hear we usually chase them out. Seems like you and your father are the exception."

"Wish I knew why. He never tells me any stories about his time with the clans, but he's a pretty big deal," Bell bragged before asking, "You know anything about it?"

Skippaw blinked at her, surprised. "Well…yeah. The elders always told me stories about a cat named Coal who was a part of the clans during the Great Return. He never completed the journey, but he was suppose to be vital to it….like a hero…" he said, admiration shining in his voice. He looked to Bell with awe. "And you're his daughter."

"Course I am. I've been told I'm a lot like him too." Bell said, beginning to strut a little. "I'm gonna be a warrior in no time."

For some reason the awe in Skippaw's eyes had faded. "Doubt it. You look younger then me and I still have lots to learn. Greenclaw only just started teaching me battle moves the other day."

"Ha! Seriously? I know TONS of battle moves already. Maybe if you ask nicely I'll show you some!"

"You're wrong there. Even if your father is a great fighter, I bet he hasn't been training you for real. You'll need a proper mentor before you go around saying stuff like that."

Bell nodded to the black cat ahead of them. "He pretty much IS my mentor. Just cause we start training on clan territory doesn't mean it's gonna be better training or anything."

Skippaw looked like he had several things to say, but decided to skip over them. "Right….well, I don't think you'll be training with him if you do join Windclan. Parents aren't suppose to be able to train their kits…I wonder who'll be the one to train you…"

Bell frowned at this idea. Not that she didn't thinks she would do well under another mentor, of course she would, she was Coal's daughter. But something about the idea bothered her. She'd been training with him for so long and they had a certain rhythm to their method, not even needing to talk at some points. Would a different mentor have the same connection? Or would they try and change everything?

Ugh, she did NOT want to deal with those thoughts.

"So, what do you guys eat around here?"

Bell had been making polite, if boring conversation with Skippaw for quite some time, evidenced by how low the sun was in the sky, now peeking out over the hills the travelled on. It was when they had been walking upwards for quite some time that the two young cats heard the call of Greenclaw ahead of them, who stood with Coal near the top of the hill.

"Hey! Camps just up ahead, hurry it up you two!"

Skippaw said nothing, just hurrying along after his mentor. Bell was surprised by the news, staring dumbly ahead for a few moments.

This was it. They'd be travelling for what had felt like moons, but this was it. All of it was about to pay off, and she and her father would have their new home. The clan cats _had_ to accept them. If they didn't, Bell had no idea what they were suppose to do. Which means they would _have_ to accept them into the clan.

"Oi! Coal's kit! Unless you wanna show up to camp by yourself I'd hurry it up a bit!"

She flinched. Kit? Ohhh, she didn't like that, not one bit.

As she climbed the hill she could see Coal looking down at something from where he was, his fur spiking in excitement. She bounded towards him, anticipation building in her as she stood by his side and looked down into what must have been the Windclan camp.

The camp was surprisingly shallow scoop in the land, several huge boulders standing in the middle of it. A hollow looking bush was on the other side of a camp, along with a tunnel dug into the ground beside it. Many nests sat around the boulders, forming a circle, proving Skippaw's word about them sleeping under the sky to be true, unfortunately. At the foot of one of the boulders sat a sizeable pile of prey, seeming to mostly consist of rabbits. It was at this point that Bell realised just how hungry she was, looking at the food that just lay there for the taking.

Of course what next caught her attention were the cats. Each one first looked at them with either hostility or curiosity, but after a beat, they must have recognized her father, many cats speeding forward with cries of, "Coal, is that you?", "Took you long enough!" and "Does that mean you've decided to join?" Many of the cats were far more skinny then Bell had been expecting. Maybe they were poor hunters?

She stuck close to her father, the barrage of cats he was greeting practically flashing in front of her eyes, few of them seeming to even notice Bell's presence. Short cats, tall cats, brown cats, grey cats. She wasn't sure if she had EVER seen so many cats in one place before. And they were all _so skinny!_

"Alright everyone, give them some space!" A powerful looking she-cat yowled over the crowd. They parted for her as she sauntered over, with not a friendly greeting but instead a respectful nod. "So, you finally caught up with the rest of us. I assumed it happened then?"

The crowd of cats went quiet at the question. Bell felt unease prickle at her coat but her father didn't seem to share the feeling, instead letting out a sigh as if he had been expecting the words sooner. "Yes."

The silence continued as the she watched him carefully, before saying, "My condolences." The quiet held the camp for a few more beats, when at last she smiled and said, "It's good to see you again, Coal."

At last some life returned to the clearing, cats jabbering and chatting amongst themselves about the arrivals. Greenclaw seemed about to say something with a smirk, but a shake of the head from the she-cat was enough to stop him.

"Ugh. Fine. I'll see you later, Coal, nice meeting ya Bell. Cmon Skippaw, let's get some grub."

Bell was distracted from Skippaw's farewell by the suddenly intense gaze the she-cat wore, seeming to only notice Bell at that moment.

"Oh, I'm not with him." Bell flicked her father's paw with her tail. "I just wandered in the same time they did. Great distraction, eh?"

"Bell's with me." Coal said quickly, spoiling her fun. "My daughter. Bell, this is Stillstone, who I'm assuming is the clan leader? I suppose I should have introduced you as-"

"No." Stillstone interrupted, a weak smile on her muzzle. "Deputy. Though the compliment does _not_ go unnoticed." She tilted her head slightly. "Did Greenclaw not tell you?"

Coal looked to the tom who was very concentrated on picking out a rabbit. As soon as he did, Stillstone sighed. "Of course he didn't. I suppose he believed seeing you find out for yourself would be terribly amusing. I, however, wouldn't. It's Cloudystar."

Bell looked to her father, who's face had gone as still as stone. "Who's Cloudystar? Is that bad? You look like you think that's bad."

Coal's expression broke into one of mild amusement. "Don't you think it's in poor taste to criticise Greenclaw and then joke yourself?"

"Who is Cloudystar?" Bell asked again, looking between the two cats.

"I wasn't joking Coal, Cloudystar is the leader of Windclan." Stillstone spoke as if she was expecting this conversation to go on for another moon.

"Hello? Who _is_ Cloudystar?"

Again, Coal's face went blank, before quickly switching to one of confusion. "…another cat with the name Cloudy joined the clan? They must be exceptionally skilled to have rose to the position-"

"Coal, _look at me_ -"

"Can you two hear me or did I just dream that we made it here?"

"-Cloudyday was made leader of Windclan."

At last, the news seemed to truly hit Coal, his eyes seeming to narrow with either further confusion. He let out a " _How?_ " in what might have been the most concerned voice Bell ever heard him speak with.

"You can ask him yourself when we discuss you two joining the clan. Come, he's talking to Redrose about something or other."

They padded towards one of the boulders, Bell still feeling the eyes of many cats upon them. She was distracted from the feeling by a myriad of odd scents that began to sting her nose as they got closer and closer to the boulder. From the three, this one had a large crack in it, making for a decent entry way.

Her father slipped inside but just as she Bell was about to follow him, she was pushed back from the entrance by Stillstone's paw.

"Sorry kit, you'll have to wait out here." She said, not sounding sorry at all. "Redrose doesn't like young cats wandering into his den. Just sit here, we'll get this sorted out."

Bell had been about to snap back at her, but before she could even open her mouth, Stillstone disappeared into the boulder's entrance as well.

Ugh. Whatever. If she had to wait, there was no way she was going the sit so close to such an awful smelling place. She took a few, long steps away from the boulder, sitting on the flat ground. Great. So she'd gone from walking the whole time in order to get to the clan, and now that she was there, all she could do was sit around doing _nothing_.

Scanning the camp, she decided to pay a little more attention to the cats that she would supposedly be living with now. Greenclaw was talking with a batch of older looking cats, all of who were listening to him intently. One she-cat in particular was leaning in _very_ close to him, golden-fur clashing against Greenclaw's own grey colouring.

Skippaw was sitting near the prey-pile, chatting with what must have been another apprentice, one who looked remarkably like him. Whoever she was, as soon as Bell's eye's looked at her, she returned Bell's look, before turning to Skippaw and saying something that made him frown.

…aaand, Bell was bored. How long would saying ' _Hey, we want to join your clan.' 'Oh, okay.'_ take? If she had to wait around for one more second she was goi-

"Hi!"

"GAH!" Bell let out a yelp, stumbling as she suddenly became aware of a presence sitting right beside her. Picking herself up from the ground, she looked to whoever it was who snuck up on her.

The golden-furred cat, the one she had seen sitting close to Greenclaw was now sitting calmly in front of Bell, a pleasant smile on her face. Bell didn't _like_ to judge cats too quickly, but this particular cat had a very….dim look behind her eyes.

"Do _not_ sneak up on me like that." Bell said, trying to regain her cool exterior.

The golden-furred cat titled her head, confused, "Like what?" Before Bell could speak, she continued on. "Greenclaw was talking about how you were gonna join the clan and I figured that you could use someone to show you around!"

Bell opened her mouth to respond, but the cat just kept talking. "I mean, the camp isn't that big, but I bet it would be real nice to have the layout in your head when you get a mentor, cause then they don't have to waste time showing you around on your first day and then you can get to the good stuff like hunting or training, well I guess it's more up to who your mentor is, but if it was me, I'd want to get to that stuff straight away since it's where you can get the most fun out of training, not that I expect to BE your mentor, but that's just how I would do it, ya know? It would be great to have you as an apprentice, but I don't think I'm really due one at this point so I'm gonna try and get my hopes up, haha!"

Honestly? Bell was just impressed the she-cat had managed to say all that without taking a breath. "Oh, my name is Goldenfur by the way. What's yours?"

"Of course it is…" Bell sighed, rolling her eyes. "Well, my name IS Bell, but I wouldn't bother to remember it. Apparently I'm going to get a new one." She gave the odd cat a smirk. "Hopefully more creative then yours."

Surprisingly, Goldenfur just snorted. "Heh, yeah, Cloudystar says that simplest solutions are the best, so I guess he thinks that about names too."

"….so…dooooo you want me to show you around?"

As if Bell had anything better to do. "Sure. Better then sitting here and being stared at."

She could have sworn she saw Goldenfur do a little hop. "Great! Well, since it's right in front of you, this is the three-boulders! All the warriors and apprentices sleep around them and their also where the leader makes announcements from. That one with the crack that Stillstone went into is the medicine-den. It's where-"

"The medicine cat sleeps?" Bell guessed. "Yeah, I know about those. Use plants and stuff to make cats feel better. Smells horrible though."

Goldenfur gave another snort. "Yeah, apprentices always seem to complain about the smell when their near it. Guess us warriors are just use to it! Redrose is our medicine cat…." Her smile became more dreamlike. "…he's _really_ nice."

"Well, yeah, his job is to help cats, why wouldn't he be?" Bell clawed at the ground a little bit. "Moving on?"

"Oh right! Hmm…oh! Over here we have…." She led Bell over to the hollow looking bush that stood lonely at one end of the camp. "The nursery! This is where the queens and kits sleep! Can't have them out in the cold now can we?"

As she spoke, a she-cat with the messiest looking fur Bell had ever seen stumbled out of the nursery, almost falling back when she walked straight into Goldenfur.

Goldenfur still smiled brightly at her though. "Oh, hello Mossmaw! I was just showing Bell around camp, she's going to be joining Windclan as an apprentice!"

Mossmaw's eyes darted from Goldenfur, to Bell, to the ground. "….'lo….I'm M-moss..j-jaw."

"I thought it was Mossmaw?" Bell squinted at the nervous looking cat.

"…it is, m-m-messed up saying it…sorry." She kept her eyes firmly on the ground. "…gotta go now." The cat slinked past the two, heading towards the prey-pile before changing her mind and choosing to sit at the camp's walls.

"….she messed up saying her own name?" Bell asked.

Goldenfur shrugged. "Yeah, Mossmaw doesn't really….talk very well. She's a great warrior though, practically always out hunting."

Bell peered into the bush, immediately being met with the cold blue eyes of what must have been one of the queens Goldenfur had mentioned, blocking her view of the rest of the den. The queen said nothing, simply shooing her away with a paw, muttering something about dirty loners, a sneer on her face.

"I'll take your word for it." She muttered, drawing her head away from the den and looking towards the wide passage nearby it."What's with the hole in the ground?"

"Oh! Elders-den. That's where-"

"The elders sleep? Think I'm getting the hang of this clan stuff pretty quickly." Bell muttered, glancing around at the rest of the camp. "Is that… _seriously_ all of the shelter you have?"

"Hmmmm…" Goldenfur thought for a few moments before speaking. "Well, you _are_ going to join the clan, so I guess it's not a problem if I tell you." She looked side to side drmatically before leaning in to whisper. "If the weather gets bad, we have some burrows hidden around that we have covered by stuff. Don't usually use them though."

Bell had been about to say something about how sad the camp seemed to her. Heck, her old home had FAR more shelter, and it had only been her family living there. She HAD been about to say how thin all the cats were and question why they weren't out hunting more. And she had DEFIANTLY NOT been about to say how dark it was that the living elders were already in a hole in the ground.

Luckily, an impressively loud yawn echoed across the camp, followed by a call of, "All cats old enough to sprint across the moor, gather for a clan meeting."

"Oooooh, here we go!" Goldenfur shook herself excitedly. "Good luck, Bell! Ha, guess that's the last time I'll be able to call you that!" Before Bell could say anything, she took off towards the crowd of warriors who were gathering around the three-boulders.

Bell's eyes immediately latched onto the dark coat of her father, making an immediate beeline for him. She glided effortlessly through the crowd, ignoring the few looks she got. Coal looked surprisingly shocked, eyes seeming to be clouded with questions.

She brushed against his coat, freeing him from his daze. "So did the meeting with what's-it-star go well or is the meeting being called to chase us out?"

"No, no it went well." Coal nodded, looking up at the boulders. "Better then I could have hoped for in truth. But…well, it's just odd seeing what's changed about the clan."

She followed his gaze to the boulders, atop which three cats sat. On the lowest boulder, the one that acted as the medicine den, sat a tom with a dark coat not unlike Bell and her father's. However his coat, unlike Bell's, was groomed and clearly well taken care of, running smoothly over his body. A charming smile was painted across his face and had his eyes closed, seemingly content to let the breeze that flowed through the camp ruffle his fur.

When Bell had pictured the medicine cat in her head she had expected something more…well…ugly. Not…whatever….the right word for Redrose was.

She tore her eyes from the tom, looking to the second boulder to see Stillstone who was looking directly at Bell, her eyes calculating and…worried? Not sure what that was about but Bell supposed she should feel _honoured_ that the deputy was paying such close attention to her.

Finally, at the highest point of the clan, sat a cat with white fur who cast a shadow down upon that cats below him in the light of the setting sun. His amber eyes looked over the gathered cats, looking incredibly tired but also pleasantly amused. If Bell hadn't met Mossmaw earlier in the day, THIS cat, undoubtedly Cloudystar, who have had the messiest coat.

He whispered something to Stillstone who rolled her eyes and clearly said something to the leader that reminded him of something, sending him into a nod as if he hadn't needed the reminder.

"As undoubtedly you have all noticed, we received the return of an old friend, and the appearance of a new one." Cloudystar spoke as if he was always on the edge of a yawn. "Coal and Bell have come to Windclan asking to join us, and after a few moments of consideration I have chosen to allow this. Many of you remember Coal from the days of the Great Return and I am sure you understand why I have such little trouble coming to this decision. And for those of you who have an issue with this choice or would like to speak up about it, I'm sure Stillstone would be happy to hear them, right?"

He looked to his deputy who nodded without question, scanning the crowd for cats who objected to the ceremony. Cloudystar DID yawn this time before continuing. "Thaaaaank you. Anyway, I'm sure our ancestors above will be happy to approve of this joining once they are given their clan-born names. Coal, steeeeeeep on up."

Coal padded forward, acting deaf to the whispers of the cats around him. Most were favourable, but the few that spoke doubt of her father? Bell would be sure to remember them. In particular was a large, cream colored tom who leaned towards a queen, the one who had shooed away Bell from the nursery, and whispered something along the lines of, "And here I thought we weren't suppose to bring trash into the camp."

If the ceremony hadn't been taking place, Bell would have had some VERY choice words to say to him. But for now she forced herself to pay attention to the ceremony.

"I ask my warrior ancestors to look down upon this cat. He has shown the true spirit of a warrior, helping the clans in our hour of need. The time has come for us to truly welcome him back into our clans. Coal. Do you do you promise to uphold the warrior code, to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Coal let out a breath. "I do."

"Then by the grace of Starclan I give you your warrior name….hmm…Blackclaw. Starclan honours your strength and skill and we _finally_ welcome you as a true warrior of Windclan."

The camp was filled with cheers and yowls of, "Blackclaw! Blackclaw! Blackclaw!" Coal-or rather Blackclaw now, bowed to the leader who returned the bow with a roll of the eyes and a nod.

"Alright, settle down." The leader called out to the crowd of cats. "Next…uh…" Cloudystar was looking straight at Bell, but seemed at a loss for words, until Stillstone whispered to him and he nodded. "Right. Bell, step forward."

Had…had he _forgotten her name?_

…questions for later.

She ignored the burning gazes of the gathered cats and padded forward, getting a smile and nod from her father as they passed each other. Sitting in front of the boulder, she met Cloudystar's lazy gaze.

"Bell. Though you are new to the clans, your father has assured me you will be a worthy addition to the clan. I am curious as to what extent you will prove him right."

"From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as….uh….Freepaw. Your mentor will be Stillstone, who I am sure will pass down all the knowledge of clan life she knows to you."

Without missing a beat, he looked down to the deputy by his side. "Stillstone **,** you are ready to take on another apprentice. You received excellent training from Brownstar, and you have shown yourself to be dedicated and driven. You will be the mentor of Freepaw, and I know you will pass on all you know to her."

She blinked in surprise at the news of her mentor, Stillstone herself leaping down from the boulder to approach her. She was thankful that the deputy mouthed the words, " _Touch noses with me,"_ over the yells of her new name, wondering for a brief moment if she'd have to fight the strong looking cat. Playing along, she touched noses with her new mentor, their locked on each other, even as Stillstone pulled away.

Well…she'd let her new mentor win this one. Finally closing her eyes, taking in the coolness of the rocks shadow and the cheers of her new clanmates, she allowed her new name to sink in.

_Freepaw._

….not bad, but it wasn't exactly what she would have chosen. Not that she could come up with any other name that she felt fit at the moment.

But Freepaw was sure that if her brother was here, he would have been able to think of something better.

* * *

**Cats &Characters**

_(Freepaw)_

_The new inducted apprentice of Windclan, daughter of the famous Blackclaw, once known as Coal. She travelled with her father for quite some time to reach the clans, though it doesn't appear she shares the same enthusiasm as he does for clan-life._

_While she hasn't had a chance to prove herself, she boasts of the training she received from her father, clamng to already be ahead of the apprentices with Windclan. This has been met with skepticism by those she boasts to._

_She is largely unaware of her father's history with the clans and hopes to learn more during her new life. Will she live up to the skills she boasts about?_


	3. Wishpaw's Half-Mentor

_Wishpaw was drowning-_

His belly suddenly recived a sharp jab, blasting Wishpaw's eyes awake. He was met with the sight of the hole in the medicine den above him. The dim light the sky had been painted indicated that it was some time before sunup, the must've only been beginning to peek over the hills beyond, not that Wishpaw could see it.

Oh, and he was also met with the frowning face of Robinwing.

"You were having _that_ dream again, weren't you." It wasn't a question, the concern on her face clearly showing she already had her answer.

Wishpaw rubbed his eyes, rising from the nest. "Y-yeah. I…thanks for the wake-up call."

She shot him a weak smile, "Miiiiight wanna save those thanks for later. Brightstar wanted to meet with me and Halfheart for some boring stuff and the _mighty_ clan deputy wanted to meet you in the training-hollow."

Suppressing a sigh, Wishpaw looked down to his nest. "Can't I just hide here until he drags me out himself? You can pretend that you forgot or something."

Robinwing thought for a moment, seriously considering his words…..before shaking her head. "Sorry, but if he found you hiding here he'd probably just make you work harder for the lost time." Adopting a jokingly-serious expression, she placed a paw on his forehead. "But know this. The strength of the ancestors goes with you."

He gave her a deadpan stare. "Could you tell the ancestors to sap Halfheart of his strength?"

"Oh, now there's an idea!" Robinwing said excitedly. "I'll ask them next Moonpool visit. We'll say it's a present to celebrate you're first visit."

Wishpaw couldn't help but smile a little at his mentors jokes. "Think they'll go for it?"

"Oh, absolutely not." She ruffled up the fur on his head. "Now get going. Can't you just picture poor Halfheart sitting in the training-hollow all by himself?"

"Yeah, yeah….I know." He padded out of the den, surveying the dimly lit camp.

The camp was, of course, empty for the most part. No normal cat would be up at this time, all of them luckily sleeping in their nests, probably having nice dreams about…hunting or something? It'd been quite some time since Wishpaw had had a proper dream.

There was one cat awake though, sitting atop the high-pine. No other cat would dare to set paw there without permission, so it was no surprise to see Brightstar, leader of Shadowclan, sat there alone, staring up at the sky above.

Wishpaw had thought she was too deep in thought to notice him crossing the camp, but sure enough, her eyes snapped to him quick as a slash. The mask of a smile placed itself on her face and she gave a small nod, one which he returned.

Brightstar was probably the most feared cat in the forest. A deadly warrior, a driven leader and doing it all without giving a clue to what was going on in her head. Yet another reason why Shadowclan was the best really. Wishpaw had never really had a proper conversation with his leader but he would sometimes catch her looking at him.

Giving him a small, almost unnoticeable nod, Brightstar went back to her….cloud-gazing? Whatever it was, Wishpaw left her to it, making his through the brambles of the camp's entrance, heading in the direction of the training-hollow.

It was a simple enough set-up, a small arena surrounded by yet more brambles. He'd seen Leafpaw training in the hollow once or twice while he and Robinwing were out looking for herbs. But instead of the friendly-looking apprentice, Wishpaw was only met with the grumpy-looking deputy.

"Good, you're here." Was the greeting that Halfheart presented. "Was beginning to think I'd have to drag you out of the medicine den myself."

Wishpaw didn't say anything, simply taking his place across from the deputy, listening to him continue, "Now, Robinwing has told me that you are yet to have even a single battle-training session as of yet. I _will not_ criticise her ways of teaching, but I would have thought she cared more for your well-being then that."

As Halfheart paused, waiting for a response, Wishpaw held back the fact that he had asked his _REAL_ mentor to put off these sessions for as long as possible. Instead he just blankly stared at the deputy.

"…..in any case…" Halfheart relented, getting to his paws. "I want you to show me your battle stance. Assume the position you would take if you were threatened by an enemy."

Also standing up, Wishpaw stood, letting his body go somewhat loose. That was probably the correct choice right? Nice and light on your paws, ready to dodge an attack at any moment.

Despite this loose stance, Wishpaw couldn't help but tense up a bit as Halfheart padded around him, seeming to judge every little detail. This went on for a bit and Wishpaw began to wonder if maybe the deputy was having trouble finding a f-

"We…..have a _lot_ of work to do." Halfheart finally sighed. "Okay….let's start with this instead; _tell me_ what you would do if you were attacked by an enemy."

"…get out of the way?" Wishpaw said slowly. Was this some kind of trick? It was a pretty simple question.

Halfheart nodded slowly. "The expected answer. Now, _if_ you did succeed in dodging, what would you do if you spotted an opening in your enemies form?"

Wishpaw thought for a moment. "….who am I fighting?"

"….what?"

"Who's attacking me?"

"I dunno….we'll say it's a Thunderclan warrio-"

Wishpaw nodded quickly. "I'd retreat and look for someone to team up on the enemy with. Preferably a fully grown warrior."

Halfheart scoffed. "You wouldn't take the fleabag head on?"

"I'm a medicine cat apprentice. It would be best for me not to tangle with a warrior all on my own." He said, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

Rolling his eyes, Halfheart snapped, "Which is _why_ you're getting this training."

Wishpaw returned the movement with an eye-roll of his own. "Yes, well I haven't _gotten_ that training yet, have I? I've just been asking a few stupid que-" He paused, closing his eyes and breathing in. No. There'd be nothing to gain from fanning the flames of Halfheart's irritation.

"I'm sorry." He bowed his head at the deputy. "I'm not use to being up this early. I shouldn't have said that."

Looking up, he saw that Halfheart simply nodded. "Yes, you shouldn't have…..but _I suppose_ you're a _little_ right. We'll learn far more about what your made of by more physical work." Taking a few steps back, Halfheart's eyes narrowed. "Attack me."

"S-shouldn't we go over-"

" _Now."_

Wishpaw inwardly cringed, dashing forward with all the speed he could muster. Once he was within range of the Halfheart, he attempted a feint, dashing to the side and-

* _WHAM_ *

A weight had slammed itself onto Wishpaw's body, forcing him to collapse onto the grass below. He felt as if a cat had dropped their entire body onto his, but all he could see was Halfheart frowning at him.

"You're faster then I thought…." he said in a quiet voice. Surveying Wishpaw's gasping form, he added, "Need to work on your stamina first. You've been spending too much time sleeping. Need to get use to putting effort into moving again.."

He seemed to wait for a response, but Wishpaw was largely concerned with catching his breath. After a few moments of staring, Halfheart spoke again. "….you feeling alright?"

"…just….need…..catch my breath."

"Oh, good. Well, hurry it up then. Got a few exercises I want you to do." If he didn't sound so sincere, Wishpaw would have assumed the cat was mocking him.

They began working, and continued for what felt like days. The exercises were mostly running from one point to the other, running in place or trying to run past Halfheart while he attempted to block Wishpaw. True, Wishpaw couldn't remember the time he had moved this fast for this long, but after this session, he was quite sure he never wanted to run anywhere ever again. Halfheart attempted to motivate him with cries of, "Cmon, faster!" and "You're not out of breath already are ya? I _know_ you can do better!" but all these managed to do was stress Wishpaw out even more so.

He finally received something of a break when the rustle of cats entering the training-hollow allowed him to halt, practically laying on the ground as he and Halfheart turned to see the intruders.

"Was wondering who you were yelling at." Wildway greeted, the small form of his new apprentice, Beepaw, following him. "Gotta say, not the duo I was expecting to find here. Robinwing having a day off?"

"Brightstar's put me in charge of Wishpaw's physical training. I was hoping we'd get the training-hollow to ourself. Not showing her the territory?" Halfheart nodded to Beepaw, who was surveying the situation with mild interest.

"Nah. I let her pick out what we were doing, and so here we are." Wildway and Wishpaw's eyes met, Wildway shooting him a wink. "Say, mind if I talk to ya for a sec? Beepaw, you talk to Wishpaw for a bit, yeah?"

The new apprentices nodded, not taking her eyes off of Wishpaw as she padded over, making his fur burn with embarrassment, still trying to catch his breath. He'd had few interactions with Beepaw since leaving the nursery, but from what he remembered the she-cat could be a little…direct.

"Wow, you look horrible. Are you really that bad at fighting?" Beepaw's voice was blank, her face expressing nothing but genuine curiosity.

Yep, there it was. Wishpaw took in a large gasp of air before answering. "Yes. I'm not _suppose_ to fight. I should be learning about herbs, not running about the training-hollow."

"I don't agree with that. You need training in case you get attacked, otherwise you'd be completely defenceless by yourself." Beepaw looked off towards Wildway and Halfheart. "Do you think we'll be sparring together? I think I'd make a good partner for you, I haven't had any training yet."

"I don't know. Halfheart said he wanted to focus on building my stamina but with you two here…" Wishpaw had to focus on the neutrality in Beepaw's voice to remind himself she wasn't trying to insult him.

"Alright!" Halfheart annouced, both he and Wildway turning to the two.. "We're going to be showing you two some basic battle moves. After that, you try them out on each other….Wishpaw, you feeling ready to go."

No. He didn't. "Yeah, yeah, I'm ready whenever."

"Good. Now…"

It was a simple, yet agonising affair. Halfheart and Wildway would demonstrate the move, usally with Halfheart defending and Wildway attacking. Beepaw and Wishpaw would then _attempt_ to recreate the manoeuvre.

Beepaw could usually succeed at this, getting an equal amount of practise as the defender and the attacker. WIshpaw….well, he had managed to land a single hit on the apprentice, so it wasn't all bad. For the most part though? Well, he was definitely getting use to his body feeling sore.

It was after about the tenth time he was sent sprawling onto the ground that he noticed _it_. Whenever Beepaw would charge towards him, preparing to perform whatever battle move they had been shown, she would every so slightly tilt her head to the side she was going to dash to. Not enough to usually be noticeable, but Wishpaw had seen her running at him enough times to notice the simple tell. His mind went back to what Halfheart had questioned him about, concerning dodging and looking for openings. He wondered if…

"Alright…next up is the frontal-paw blow." Wildway's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, just in time to see the mentor bringing his front paw down hard onto the attacking Halfheart's head. "Not really meant to do too much damage, it's more for disorientating or scaring. Gotta think of this one as more of a defensive move. Beepaw, you'll be attacking, Wishpaw, you try it out."

The apprentices nodded at him before facing each other once again. Sure enough, Beepaw's head tilted slightly to the left before she sped towards him, most likely preparing a smile move in case Wishpaw couldn't block in time.

However, contrary to every other time he'd been lain out on the ground, _this time_ Wishpaw had something of an idea of what he was going to do.

As soon as Beepaw skid off to his left, he dodged to the side, giving him an precious extra second before she would lightly smack him. But it wouldn't be enough. His paws felt heavey and tired and he knew, oh he just _knew_ that he wouldn't be able to bring it up in time to use the frontal-paw blow. So, he did the only reasonable thing he could in the situation.

He panicked. Well, that and reeling his head into the air so he could-

* _WHAM_ *

"GAH!"

"OW!"

He had brought his head down onto Beepaw's with all the strength he could muster. Surprisingly, that strength had been enough to send Beepaw reeling back after contact, for the first time leaving her the one on the ground. Yet still, there was now a fierce pain in Wishpaw's head, a price for the…victory?

"…that was _not_ what you were suppose to do." Halfheart said sternly, but there was a small smirk painted across his muzzle.

Wildway on the other hand, wasn't even trying to hide his amusment, letting out a howl of laughter. "Maybe, but worked just as well didn't it? Maybe even better then the paw would have." He sighed, nodding sagely. "The frontal-head blow. Guess I'll have to add a way to defend against it to the training. You okay Beepaw?"

"I need a moment. Everything is spinning." She responded, blinking rapidly.

Looking towards the sky, Halfheart sighed. I would have liked to get more done, but I imagine we've been at this long enough. Wishpaw, return to Robinwing. I'm sure she has something planned for you." The deputy gave Wildway a nod before disappearing through the hollows barrier.

Both Wildway and Beepaw said their farewells, but it was mostly a daze for Wishpaw, only managing a mumble of a reply. His paws were sore, his head hurt and he wasn't even done training for the day. It was only after sitting there, waiting for the world to stop spinning that he realised he was all alone in the training-hollow.

…that had been one of the worst-

* _snap_ *

Wishpaw whirled around, looking towards the noise. Whatever the source of it was, it wasn't in the hollow. No, it seemed to have come from over the bramble barrier, in the direction of the forest.

For a brief moment, he considered sneaking through the barrier, to investigate the noise but….the medicine den. He wanted nothing more then to hide within his alcove once again.

And so? He ignored the noise, heading back towards the camp.

Probably just a mouse or something.

* * *

"So, training with Halfheart…how'd it go?"

Wishpaw looked up from the beautiful simplicty that was sorting herbs, seeing Robinwing nibbling at a frog. He had returned to the medicine den as quickly as he could, reveling in how secure the stench of the herbs made him feel. Robinwing had been happy to see him, the two of them quickly getting to a lesson of identifying herbs and their uses.

Then had gone over about five of the herb and Wishpaw was horrifed when he found out he had gotten _one wrong_. It was like a jolt being sent through his entire body, reminding him of being sprawled out onto the grass of the training-hollow. Thankfully, Robinwing had been understanding, saying he was probably just a little tired from his first session with the clan deputy, allowing him to sort the herbs they had collected yesterday.

He enjoyed arranging herbs. It made him feel calm.

Getting back to Robinwing's question, he took a few moments to think before answering.

"Horrible." He decided was the best word to describe it. "I never want to run anywhere ever again. My paws might fall off if I do."

Robinwing chuckled. "I wouldn't rule out running yet. Might be a good way to escape from the mud-brain." Her laugh continued, Wishpaw not saying anything. After a second of silence, she spoke up again. "Did you learn anything useful?"

He finished sorting the herbs and gave a half-hearted shrug. "In a way, I suppose. Wildway showed up with Beepaw and they started showing us a few battle-moves. I could picture them in my head but…my body wouldn't go along with it. It felt like I was moving through mud."

Seeming to ignore his last comment, Robinwing's eyes practically lit up. "You and Beepaw trained together? How did that go?"

"Just told you. Horrible." Wishpaw answered.

"No, no, no." Robinwing said. "I don't mean the actual training. What I mean is, did you and Beepaw get along?

"Uh." He had to think for a moment. Had they gotten along? He certaintly couldn't think of any hostility he had experienced with his fellow apprentice. "I…I guess? We kept smashing each other up, well, more her smashing me up and me trying to get back at her."

"Would you say the interaction was…. _friendly_?"

"I suppose." He looked to his mentor, seeing she was halfway through her frog. "I'm gonna grab a mouse. Be back in-"

"You won't be coming back here!" Robinwing said happily.

For a moment, Wishpaw's blood ran cold. Had he upset his mentor? Was she getting rid of him? Why did she look so happy? Was it because she would be happy to have him gone?

"You're gonna be eating with your new friend!"

Oh.

"I…what? Why?" Her words had calmed him down immensely, but there was now a growing spark of nervousness in him. "We usually eat in here don't we?"

"Trrrrrrue, but I think it's about time you _expand_ your social circle a bit. You're going to be spending a lot more time outside the den, so it'll be nice for you to eat meals with other cats! Be good for you, you know?"

Wishpaw thought quickly. "I've eaten with other cats before! Remember when Leafpaw joined us for that honey in here a few moons ago?"

"True. But she hasn't joined us since then, has she? Nothing to do with the two of us of course. Apprentices just seem to dislike the smell in here, for some reason." Robinwing smiled at him. "Cmon. You'll have fun."

He considered it for a moment. He really did. But memories lashed at him, just yesterday, the queens whispering about him. About his…

"….do I have to?" He mummered, scraping at the ground.

"No." She said quickly. "Not if you really don't want to." Robinwing's tone was far more soft then before.

Wishpaw couldn't force himself to meet her eyes. "I….I wanna stay here. B-but tomorrow!" He yelped suddnely. "Tomorrow, I promise I'll eat with them. Before the gathering, I promise." He finlly managed to look up and saw his mentor staring at him with caring, green eyes.

"Sorry. Probably sounds stupid." He said.

"Not at all. You're your own cat, Wishpaw. You can do what you want, when you want…but _I_ promise to hold you to _your_ promise." She tapped him lightly on his nose with her tail, making him shake his head. "Now, if you don't mind, I have some cats to speak to. Want me to fetch you a mouse?"

He shook his head, on purpose this time. "Nah, I can get it myself. Thanks, Robinwing."

"Mm-hm." She hummed, exiting the den.

He turned back to the herbs, trying to name them off to himself, but his mind was buzzing with activity. Had Robinwing been disappointed in him? She hadn't looked it. And she _was_ right of course. Eating with the other apprentices probably would have done him some good. Least if he was eating with them they wouldn't be able to talk about him behind his back….maybe they could even tell him what it was the other cats were saying about him.

Suddenly, a mouse entered his field of view, having been thrown from behind him.

He frowned at it as he turned. "Robinwing, I told you I could-" He stopped talking once he saw the cat standing in the medicine den's entrance way.

"Oh. Um. Hello Brightstar."

His leader stood, the light of the setting sun against her back, her amber eyes seeming to almost look _through_ him.

"Robinwing told me you were going to get a mouse. I thought I'd speed up the process." She nodded to the mouse. "Eat."

It was a rather small morsel of prey, one he gobbled up quickly, still feeling the leader's eyes on him. He finished it quickly, not wanting to annoy the leader.

"Finished?"

He swallowed as fast as he could, nodding.

"Good. Walk with me."

Wishpaw didn't even have time to think of a response as the leader left the den, him following quickly.

The camp was abuzz with activity this time. Wishpaw did feel a little bad, snapping his eyes instantly to the now lone queen of the nursery den, Toadleap. Thankfully, she was too concerned with watching her kits to even take notice of him. What did get his attention though was the three cats sitting outside the apprentice den. Leafpaw and Beepaw were there of course, along with the third apprentice, Bugpaw. The three were chatting together and he suddenly regretted his choice not to join them.

Well, until his eyes met Beepaw's and she suddenly said something that made Bugpaw and Leafpaw freeze up, both turning their gaze towards Wishpaw.

He himself felt like he was about to freeze up, when Brightstar's voice suddenly reached him.

"Their attention worries you, doesn't it?" She hadn't even glanced behind her before making the deduction. "No matter. We can talk outside the camp. Come."

The two proceded out of the camp, Wishpaw struggling to keep up with the larger cat, who glided through the bramble-barrier and the forest with ease. Every so often her ears would twitch and she'd frown, before taking a sudden turn, Wishpaw having to adjust quickly to keep following her. And when she did out pace him? Well, he was thankful that she would stop and wait for him, but it was still impressive how well she could blend into the surroundings, given her bright coat and the dreary sunlight that poked through the pine trees.

"Here."

Wishpaw had to stop himself from running into the cat, having stopped quite suddenly. The leader promptly sat down and looked over her shoulder, back towards him. "We can speak here or at the lakeside. Which do you-"

"Here!" He almost snapped at her before bowing his head. "S-sorry. I…I prefer to stay away from there."

"Understandable. I have some questions for you and I'd like you to answer them honestly. I like to converse with each apprentice early on in their training but it's been difficult to find a good time for you. My apologies."

"Uh….it's okay." He muttered, moving rather awkwardly around the leader so they could speak face to face. It felt odd to have the leader of Shadowclan apologising to him.

"I appreciate your forgiveness." It sounded like she was making a joke, but he didn't laugh just in case. "Now. How has your apprenticeship been? Under both your mentors. I know you haven't trained with Halfheart for more then a day, but I still wish to hear your opinion."

"Oh." Well, this was much easier then what he had thought she was going to ask him. "Well, Robinwing is great. I learn more new herbs everyday and go over old ones all the time. She's practically put me in charge of organising the herb stock at this point. Even showed me some good spots for herbs the one time she took me out to see the territories. It's…it's been really good. She's an excellent mentor."

"I expected no less from her." Brightstar nodded as if that had all been the most obvious thing in the world. "And Halfheart?"

Ah yes. The deputy. Brightstar's deputy. The deputy that Brightstar most likely had very good reasons for choosing. That deputy…

…

Hm.

"Well…" Wishpaw began slowly. "….his style of mentoring is….a lot different. So it was a bit of a shock. He's very…encouraging?"

Brightstar frowned. "Are you asking me if he's encouraging or telling me?"

"…telling?"

"Good. Continue."

He had really hoped that he had said enough. "Um. Well, I guess he's a good mentor too? I-I was really tired after the session, so he defiantly…had me working hard? He's…he's good."

Brightstar's eyes practically stared into his soul as he spoke. He wanted to look away so bad, but he doubt that would make a good impression on the leader.

Thankfully, it was Brightstar who broke the eye-contact, turning her gaze to look over the pockets of sunlight that dotted the forest. "You dislike Halfheart. You believe his training is a waste of time for most part and you feel he is working you too hard. Am I correct?"

Wishpaw sighed, giving up. "Honestly? Completely. I'm sorry."

She looked at him once again with that creepy stare. "It's quite alright. Though when I ask you to be honest with me, I would appreciate it if you took me seriously."

"I am!" He insisted. "I just…didn't want to upset you."

He may have been mistaken, but he was pretty sure he saw a small smile from the leader. "I suppose I should be thankful that you care so for my feelings. I will ask Halfheart to ease up on you. You do look rather tired."

Briefly, he wanted to protest, but his aching bones promptly told him to shut up. "Thank you, Brightstar."

"I wouldn't thank me yet. I require something from you, Wishpaw. Something that you may not be comfortable with. We need to talk about your parents."

Everything felt as if it had gone rather cold all of a sudden. Wishpaw's eyes grew, wide and horrified, his mouth making an 'oh' shape, but no words came out. He couldn't feel the sunlight any more.

"Calm yourself. I will not ask you to think back to the incident. No, there would be no point in that. I want you to look to the future instead."

"..."

"…..can you talk?"

"Yes." He found himself saying. "What do you want?"

There was a flash of….something in Brightstar's eyes, not that Wishpaw was paying enough attention to see it.

"Good." She continued at a slower pace this time. "Now, the day after the incident, Robinwing visted the Moonpool. While she dreamed there, she was unable to make contact with either of them. I apologise for addressing this in such a direct manner, but I would like you to try and speak to them when you do go there. I know your first visit won't be for some time but I wished to tell you this in preparation."

His eyes widened. "I…I could talk with them again?"

At this, Brightstar frowned. "Yes. Again, I do not want to push you too hard, but I feel as if we both know that there was something more to what happened. It'll be up to you to find out what that truth is….do you understand?"

Again, his body practically moved by itself, giving a numb nod. He had to drag himself from a miserable, cold, drenched feeling, losing his balance somewhat as he did. He was suddenly once again aware of the forest around him. Had the sunlight always been so cool?

"I understand." He said, giving a proper answer. I…I'll talk to them." He paused, but decided to proceeded with the question, feeling he was owed as much. "So, Robinwing wasn't able to see them? What happened?"

Brightstar's tail flickered in a curious manner. "Ah. I'm afraid I don't have too much experience with speaking to Starclan, but from how I understand it, a medicine cat cannot control which of our ancestors speak to them. But...I feel it's safe to assume that you have a better chance of seeing them then Robinwing does." Her tail stopped moving. "I trust I'm not asking too much of you?"

"No. No. I…want to find out what happened too." He spoke slowly.

That earned a smile from the leader. "Excellent. You won't have to worry about this task for some time, but I felt it important that it was brought to your attention." She rose, stretching sharply as she did. "Come, let us get back to camp. I daresay that the mouse you ate was rather small."

Wishpaw watched her take a few steps before a sudden thought occurred to him. "Brightstar…did…did Robinwing want you telling me this?"

She turned with enough grace that Wishpaw suspected she had been expecting this question. And just from the look on her face, he could tell she was thinking of how much she should tell him.

"No." She answered. "No, she was against me asking this of you. She thought that you wouldn't be up to the task. Some advice Wishpaw. You and her have an excellent bond, one that will serve the clan greatly into the future. But even a bond like that has its flaws. You think too much of her, and she doesn't think enough of you."

It was like a sharp rock had been pushed into Wishpaw's chest.

" _What?"_ He practically spat at the leader. "Robinwing _does NOT_ think-"

He stopped himself when he saw the look in Brightstar's eyes. It wasn't anger, fear or concern. No, instead all that shone in the leader of Shadowclan's eyes was mild-surprise.

"I-I'm sorry-" He managed to stammer out, his ears folding against his head, but before he could finish his apology, Brightstar rolled her eyes.

"I ask that you stop apologising. To be frank, I would prefer it that you speak your mind….but perhaps with a less passionate voice?"

* * *

_She doesn't think enough of you._

The words felt etched into Wishpaw's brain as he stared up at the night sky from the medicine den. The sky was cloudy, only patches of stars being able to shine their way through the darkness. It was a cold night, but he sort of enjoyed the feeling of the cold prickling at his coat.

After his conversation with Brightstar, they had simply returned to camp, he'd gotten a little extra prey, gone over some more herbs with Brightstar and then gone to bed. But that whole time, Wishpaw hadn't been able to stop thinking about the leaders words concerning his mentor.

The she-cat in question lay near him, in her own nest a few paces away, giving a small, rhythmic snore as she slept. Why had she been against him speaking with his parents again? Did Robinwing know something that Brightstar didn't? Surely she thought he had enough willpower to meet his parents in Starclan….right?

A frown had fixed on his face. It wasn't Robinwing's fault if she cared that much about him. It wasn't that she thought he couldn't do it….she was just worried about how it might affect him that's all. In fact, he was a little annoyed with his leader for saying such a thing.

Annoyingly, his brain reminded him of how quickly she had gone along with him not wanting to eat with the other apprentices, even before he promised to do it tomorrow.

….fine. So Robinwing didn't think much of him. It was fine. This was just like one of the medicine-scenarios that she would present him with from time to time during training-sessions. Just had to find a way to fix the problem.

So Robinwing doubted him. There had to be a cure, right? Clearly working on herbs wouldn't be enough for that, so he'd have to impress her in another way for once. In his training with Halfheart...maaaaaybe?

…..he'd save that as a last resort. He had already been tired from the training session, and even then he hadn't given it his all. Starclan knows how tired he'd be if he put everything he had into the work.

There had to be another way, right?

His eyes narrowed, just a tad. Great. So now he wouldn't be able to stop worrying about _this_ , his new mentor AND his new mission at the Moonpool.

"If Starclan wants to throw anything else at me-" He mouthed up at the sky. "-I _welcome_ them to do it now."

* _snap_ *

Wishpaw sat up quickly, the sound of a twig snapping once again freeing him from his daze. The sound had come eerily close to the camp, probably just outside the bramble wall. The rest of the forest had been quiet, the only sound being the quiet sway of the pine-trees in the night's breeze.

_She doesn't think enough of you._

The words echoed through his head once again, his eyes darting towards the direction of the sound.

…well that's one way to prove he could handle himself.

Rising from his nest slowly, he snuck past his sleeping mentor. For the first time that day, he was thankful for his light frame.

The camp was deadly quiet, with not even a single cat in view. Clearly no one else had heard the sound, or thought it would be worth investigating. Still, Wishpaw took great care to stay out of view from each dens entrance, _especially_ the warrior's. The last thing he need was for Halfheart to find him sneaking out of camp at night.

Glancing behind himself every few seconds, Wishpaw scampered through the entrance, exiting into the chill of the forest. He wouldn't be out for long, just see if there was some problem. And if there was a big enough one? He'd be sure to dash back to the camp and awaken the warriors. But for now he had to handle this by himself. He _would_ handle this by himself.

Of course, he'd been outside the camp at night before, yet still he dislked it. There was something oddly menacing about the Shadowclan territory at night. But what could possibly be out here? The only things that would stalk through the shadows in these woods would be friendly warriors...right?

He steeled himself, padding determinedly into the forest, he heard a distant whisper.

"….-hing…."

Too distant to make out, but he knew the direction he had to move in. Staying low to the ground, he prowled through the shadows, sticking close to the trunks of the surrounding trees. He could see something in the distance, in a clearing illuminated by dim moonlight.

He had only managed to get close enough to recognise the shapes as cats, when a huge, brown, thing charged him, pinning him to the ground.

"Got you." The shape growled.

* * *

**Cats &Characters**

_(Robinwing)_

_The cheerful medicine cat of Shadowclan. Unlike her apprentice, she can always be seen dashing about the clan, talking to everyone and doing it all with a smile and a wink. She's well liked amongst her clanmates, though some say she's a little too friendly with other clans._

_She had found Wishpaw hiding in her den when he was a kit during some sort of game. Ever since that day, she had been determined to take him on as an apprentice, claiming he'd be perfect for the role, a stance she keeps to this day._

_If you're ever feeling sick or in need of a joke, Robinwing is the cat to visit._


	4. Freepaw's First Day

Freepaw dodged lazily to the side, letting out a fake yawn as she did.

"Come on Daisypaw! You just need to move a little faster, that's all!"

The cream-coloured apprentice let out a hiss of frustration, turning once again towards Freepaw with fury in her eyes. Freepaw felt a little bad for the apprentice, but in her defence Daisypaw had said something about 'going easy' of Freepaw.

Freepaw now had the impression she wasn't 'going easy' on her anymore

Stillstone, who had woken Freepaw up for her first training-session that morning, was watching from a few paces away, a small frown on her face. Beside her was Daisypaw's mentor, a cat who's name, to be frank, Freepaw hadn't bothered to remember. Not that she could be blamed of course! When the mentor had introduced herself, Freepaw had been more concerned with thinking of sparring-strategy.

Daisypaw charged at her once again, _almost_ hitting Freepaw this time. Unfortunately, it seemed that Freepaw had planned this, turning and giving her attacker a large push with her front paws, sending the cat tumbling across the grass.

"Bit of advice?" Freepaw snickered, watching Daisypaw pick herself up. "Stop aiming for where I am. Maaaaybe try to think a little ahead of that? Hmm?"

For some reason, the piece of advice didn't seem to please her opponent, only stoking the fires of fury that burned in her eyes. Oh well. It was probably time to end the game anyway.

As the apprentice charged at her _yet again_ , Freepaw dropped to the ground before rolling herself forward with a burst of speed, connecting with her opponents paws, forcing Daisypaw to lose any sense of balance as she once again tumbled to the ground.

This time though, Freepaw didn't stand idly by. Rising from the ground, she sprang onto the cat and placed her paws onto her neck, holding her down with as much force as she could.

"If you let yourself get so worked up in a real fight, I think you'd be in a bit of trouble." Freepaw laughed, Daisypaw struggling under her grasp.

"That's enough." Stillstone called from the side. "Freepaw, release Daisypaw."

Doing as she was told, Freepaw shot a smug look at her training partner, who seemed to have suddenly developed an interest at the ground, glaring at it with a mixture of shame and left-over anger.

"That was an interesting display." Stillstone chose her words carefully, striding towards the two cats. "I see Blackclaw has trained you well. However, I would like to imagine he taught you not to taunt your opponents."

"Eh, if you can afford it, it's a good move." Freepaw shrugged, watching Daisypaw from the corner of her eye. "Makes them act without thinking."

"You did well too, Daisypaw." The other mentor said kindly. "If had gone up against another apprentice you probably would have won. Freepaw has just had more training then you, that's all."

"Right." Daisypaw muttered still glowering at her own paws. Did Freepaw feel bad? Maybe a little. But this was _training_ , she should expect to fail at some point.

There was an odd silence for a few moments, as if her mentor was waiting for Daisypaw to talk further, but once it became clear she wasn't in the mood to talk, Stillstone spoke up.

"Daisypaw, Morningdew-" So _that_ was her name, "Thank you for helping me…assess Freepaw's fighting ability. But I think we're done here."

"O-oh, okay! Cmon Daisypaw, we can go hunting….maybe get some prey after?" Morningdew said, shooting a weak but concerned smile at her apprentice.

The two left, Daisypaw shooting a glare back at Freepaw as they did, who gave a wink in return. She was quite pleased with herself, until she turned to find Stillstone looking down at her with a frown.

Freepaw gave her chest-fur a little lick. "Well, you woke me early to see what I could do….not bad, right? Heh, maybe a little better then 'not bad'."

Stillstone offered a nod. "I'll admit, you were better then I expected. I've seen Skippaw and Daisypaw train. Skippaw is better, but Daisypaw is no slouch….yet you beat her."

"So…if I beat Skippaw then that means I'll be the best apprentice, right?"

"No, no, I would say the apprentice who's best at battle-training is Barkpaw." Stillstone seemed to remind herself of something and shook her head. "Getting off topic. Freepaw, training isn't a matter of being better then your sparring partner. You're both working towards the same goal of getting stronger, there was no need to taunt Daisypaw like that."

Oh, was THAT why Stillstone was frowning? "What if a cat does that in a real fight? You saw how she reacted, charging at me over and over. She needs thicker fur, or else she'd be thrashed in a proper fight!"

"Well, you didn't give her much of a choice but to charge, did you? You were too busy standing still and _taunting her_."

"But she had other options then just to charge at me! She could have just moved-" She waved a paw through the air. "- _slowly_."

Stillstone seemed to suppress an eye roll. "….you'll understand in time." At last, she gave Freepaw a smile, albeit a small one. "However, I will admit, you are quite skilled. It's good to see that we won't need to spend time catching you up with the other apprentices."

"Of course I am! So what's next? Are we gonna go a round?"

"No. I'm going to show you the territory first. While you may have traveled here from the Riverclan border, I imagine you haven't seen our border with Thunderclan yet. We'll start there, then move onto some hunting spots, maybe some hunting skills-"

"Oh, don't worry." Freepaw padded alongside her mentor as they made their way down the hill they'd been sparring atop. "You'll find I'm quite good at hunting too. We did it all the time on the way over here, so I've gotten use to it. I doubt you'll need to teach me much."

For some reason her mentor was frowning again. Freepaw wasn't sure why.

They made their way across the rolling fields and hills that made up the Windclan territory. Freepaw could understand why her father had wanted to come to _this_ clan of all the options. Sure, it would have been nice to have the cover of trees like the other territories, but the open fields made for excellent running ground. She was able to run as fast and as free as she wanted to. Oh, and the feeling of the wind gliding along her fur? It felt amazing. The territory reminded her of the fields back home.

….okay, Coal-er _Blackclaw_ probably had better reasons then the territory for choosing Windclan then the area around them. But it was a _massive_ bonus.

Freepaw was a little frustrated that her mentor was able to outspeed her as she watched the cat leap impressively over a particularly tangled clump of grass. It made sense, Stillstone most likely having lived here for a good portion of her life, but it still didn't stop Freepaw from trying to get ahead of her.

These efforts backfired eventually, as when Stillstone came to a stop, Freepaw had to practically throw herself to the side in order to avoid running into her mentor. She could have thanked the stars above that Stillstone hadn't seem to notice her blunder.

A long, shallow stream, running into the large lake that all the territories surrounded, ran in front of them. On the other side was a far more forested area, not to the same extent Shadowclan's territory had been, but still far more then Windclan's.

Stillstone asked simply, "Thunderclan. What do you know about them?"

She quickly rewound her mind to Blackclaw's tales of the clans. "They're good fighters and apparently pretty brave. They're pretty quick to help the other clans, even if it's in the most condescending way possible." She rolled her eyes. "Probably think they're the centre of the whole world."

Again, she had earned a small smile from her mentor. "Sounds about right. Don't be fooled by their offers for help. Thunderclan is as much out for themselves as the other clans are. Difference is, they like to _pretend_ they're not. Take in the scent around you. Can you smell the border?"

Freepaw did as instructed, taking a deep sniff of the air around her. Immediately, her senses were attacked by the stench of marked territory.

"Bleh, how could you not smell that? I feel like my nose is about to fall off!"

"That's Thunderclan alright. They mark their borders far more aggressively then other clans." Stillstone muttered, when suddenly her eyes narrowed. "We're about to have company. Choose your words carefully and don't say anything revealing."

She blinked curiously at Stillstone before turning her attention to the other side of the border. Sure enough, a lithe, skinny looking she-cat made her way out of the trees, a small cream-coloured practically stuck to her side. The two were being followed by a large, powerful looking, ginger tom.

"I hope this isn't a mini-invasion." The tom laughed. "If so, we are quite busy at the moment, so we'd appreciate it if you could postpone it for some time."

"Just showing my apprentice the border." Stillstone said without a hint of a smile. "Freepaw, this is Firstflare, deputy of Thunderclan." She nodded towards the tom, next nodding to the two other cats. "Owleyes is their medicine cat and I assume that's her new apprentice?"

Owleyes, a rather stern looking cat nodded. "This is Pinepaw. And as Firstflare said, we don't have time to chat. We're simply passing through to the Path to Stars."

Something quite odd happened then. Stillstone's eyes flickered between Firstflare and Owleyes, before dipping her head. "Ah, I see. I'm sorry for Thunderclan's loss."

"Feel like I'm missing something here." Freepaw squinted at her mentor. Hadn't she just been talking about how arrogant these cats are?

Stillstone _once again_ frowned at her. "You'll have to forgive my apprnetice, she is not clanborn. Freepaw, when a deputy is travelling on the Path-"

"If you don't mind…" Owleyes interrupted, blinking lazily at the Windclan cats, "I would ask to hear Pinepaw give your apprentice the information. I would like to make sure the lecture I gave her has sank in."

Receiving a hesitant nod from Stillstone, Owleyes gave her apprentice a small tap on the sholudr with her tail, making the small cat flinch before she began to stammer.

"T-t-t-the Path to Stars is the safest way to travel to the Moonpool, t-that's the clans connection t-t-to Starclan, a-a-and a deputy must travel it when….when their leader has died and they must take up the position."

Freepaw took in the new information. "So your leader died? And you're going to….become the new leader?"

Firstflare chuckled, a hint of grief in the sound. "Aha, that would be the idea, yes. Quillstar had been on his last life for awhile now…he caught greencough near the end of Leafbare, and while the rest of our clan was fine…well, I imagine I've said too much already."

There was an uncomfortable, sombre silence, broken by Freepaw speaking aloud, "Was he really all that great if he died to some cough?"

She had spoken without thinking, simply having wanted to break the silence. However, by the time she had finished her sentence she could feel the Thunderclan cat's eyes on her, all of which portrayed clear emotion.

Owleyes was looking at her with a mixture of surprise and dislike, Pinepaw beside her gave an odd twitch and then stared at Freepaw with utter horror. Firstflare, thankfully, was only surprise, saying slowly, "…..interesting apprentice you have there Stillstone."

" _I apologise for her_." Came the ice cold voice of Freepaw's mentor. " _We'll_ be getting out of your way now. Freepaw, come with me. _Now_."

They padded away, Stillstone only shooting a look back at the Thunderclan cats to watch them disappear into the distance. As soon as they had vanished from view, Stillstone rounded on Freepaw, fury in her eyes.

" _What_ in the name of _STARCLAN_ were you _thinking_? You just insulted a _dead_ leader to a _new_ leaders face!" The deputy spat, growing closer and closer to her.

Freepaw, however, refused to back down. "What's got you so angry? You were _just_ talking about how arrogant they were and they're from an enemy clan. I was more surprised that you were acting all friendly with them."

"I wasn't acting friendly. I was acting respectful. There is a _clear_ difference."

Freepaw could feel a growl growing in her throat. "Fine, respectful, _whatever_. Point is, they're the _enemy._ What's the point of showing them respect one second if we're going to be scratching them up the next?"

Stillstone gave her an absolutely scathing look of judgement before closing her eyes. "I'm beginning to understand why Blackclaw wanted me to be the one to train you. I see I have a LOT of work to-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you _mean_ my father wanted you to be my mentor? He knows that I could handle whatever a mentor throws my way! As if I'd actually need someone like you specifically!"

Stillstone gave a wicked roll of the eyes. "As much as you may think that, I'm afraid he doesn't think as highly of you as you may think."

A wave of cold rolled over Freepaw. What? There was no way her father actually thought that. He had trained her and her brother for days upon days. Why would Stillstone be lying about something like this? Was she trying to hurt Freepaw? Mess with her head?

She took that cold feeling and forced it into her own voice, letting out a bark of a laugh. "Hah! You for real? He probably just felt bad for you and wanted to give you an apprentice who'd make you look better! No wonder he felt like that too, watching you deal with a _dope_ like Cloudystar-"

Suddenly, Stillstone's claws were unsheathed and her eyes were narrow slits, her body having gone ridged and almost battle-ready.

" _Don't._ " She hissed, "You. EVER. Insult Cloudystar in front of me."

Freepaw's instincts were telling her she was in immense danger. That she should back down and keep her mouth shut. Yet there was also a proud, roaring fire within her too, and a little part of that fire was telling her to smack Stillstone right in her stupid face.

She listened to the fire….for the most part.

Refusing to back away, she locked eyes with her so-called-mentor. "And if I do?"

The glare in Stillstone's eyes told Freepaw that her words had been exactly what her so-called-mentor had been expecting. She sheathed her claws, but continued to look down on Freepaw.

Stillstone's voice was now as still as…well, stone. "You have no idea how lucky you are to have that cat as your father. Insulting two leaders in on your first day of apprenticeship…" She shook her head darkly. "If Blackclaw hadn't brought you…"

Freepaw didn't back down, as Stillstone continued. "We're going back to camp. Follow."

Her mentor took off, moving a lot faster then she had on their original crossing. Freepaw had to put in a bit of effort in order to keep up with her this time, not that that mattered to Freepaw of course. So what if her mentor was mad at her? Maybe Stillstone would try and knock her down a few pegs by giving her harder tasks? If so, it was for the better.

Freepaw was ready for whatever Stillstone could throw at her.

* * *

Okay, nevermind, she hadn't been ready for this.

"Young'n, could you move a little lower?" The elder, Greyfoot, suggested as she shifted her fur. "I think I can feel one of the little buggers around there."

"This." Freepaw hissed. "Is the. Stupidest. Thing. I have ever….DONE!" She had finally managed to free the tick from the elders back, feeling annoyed with how satisfying it felt to finally finish the dreadful task.

As soon as they had arrived back at the camp, Stillstone had ordered her into the hole in the ground that was the elders den to free them of their ticks. After bringing Freepaw into the dark, dirty den, Stillstone had stormed out, leaving her with the two elders, Greyfoot and Bluesky.

"Typical apprentice!" Bluesky spat, having already been freed from his ticks. "Can't even do a simple task like this without complaining!" He gave a small swat at Freepaw's tail tip. "Who's kit are you, eh? I bet you're related to that layabout Goldenfur! Tell her to stop coming in here when-"

"No, no, this one is the new arrival, Freepaw." Greyfoot laughed. "Remember? Coal arrived yesterday with her, well he's Blackclaw now, and she-"

Freepaw tuned out the elders, forcing her attention onto Greyfoot's next tick. What an absolute waste of her time. Wasn't the point of being an apprentice to train to be a warrior? How was this suppose to make her ready to fight enemies or hunt prey? Unless of course this was some kind of punishment, in which case she was SURE that Stillstone was being too hard on her.

Finally, something worth paying attention to was said, "Ah, Redrose, nice of you to visit."

Freepaw lifted her attention from the tick to see the sleek, smug looking tom swagger into the den, the medicine cat who had been sitting up with Cloudystar on the three-boulders. He looked much happier to be here then Freepaw could even imagine herself faking.

Redrose purred setting down some odd looking plants on the ground, "Always nice to visit. How are my two favourite elders in Windclan doing?"

"Hmph. Only elders in the whole clan you mean."

"Now Bluesky, I'll have you know that, even if there was a hundred elders in this den, you two would shine like a beacon to me." Giving a dramatic sigh, he gestured to the plants. "But I'm afraid I didn't come here to chat. Just here to deliver a few herbs for you to take. They're not the nicest, but they're not the worst. Balance is important."

She finally managed to get the tick off of Greyfoot's back. "There, I'm _done_. If Stillstone comes in here, tell her I'm going to get some food."

The elders, preoccupied with they're herbs, didn't respond. Redrose, however, did, giving a call of, "Ah, Freepaw, correct? Could you hold on for a moment?"

Having already made it to the outside of the den, Freepaw cast a groan behind her. "Do I haaaaaaaaaave to?"

"No, not at all."

She blinked, this time casting a glance back into the den. "….really?"

"Well of course not!" Was Redrose's pleasant response. "You're an apprentice and I am a mere medicine-cat. What am I going to do? Curse you?" The tom padded out of the den, laughing. "Of course not. I don't curse cats for things like that."

….Freepaw was pretty sure that medicine-cats couldn't do that….but just in case…

"What do you want?" She emphasised the whine in her voice.

"I thought I would just advise you to treat our dearest Windclan deputy with a little more respect? Now, I didn't hear the entire conversation, but it sounds like Stillstone is talking quite spiritedly to Cloudystar about you. Even deterred me from speaking to Cloudystar, though I'm sure they'll be done in time."

She gave Redrose a judgemental look. "You're scared of Stillstone? Shouldn't you get along? Ya know, deputy and medicine-cat?"

"You can be scared of someone and still be friends with them." Redrose said brightly. "Now, I would _also_ advise you to talk to Goldenfur, you've spoken to her already, yes? In any case, you'll find you're the talk of the clan and if anyone knows what the clan is talking about, it's Goldenfur. Good idea to know what others are thinking, yes?"

He began to strut away when Freepaw finally found her voice and called out, "What, ya don't got anything else ominous to say?"

Redrose laughed yet again. "Oh, of course I do! But from what I heard Stillstone saying, you won't listen to any of them!" And before Freepaw could snap back, the medicine-cat disappeared into his den.

"…..what a weirdo." Freepaw muttered, finally being able to fully escape the elders den entrance. She'll admit, she was curious to what the clan would be saying about her. Even better if she could find out without having to go to the actual sources herself, even if it was some weird medicine cat telling her about it. But right now? She just needed something to eat.

Padding through the camp, keeping her eyes firmly locked onto the dwindling pile of prey, Freepaw kept a careful lookout for Goldenfur. Most cats sitting about and eating were warriors chatting about hunting or patrols. She did manage to spot Daisypaw and Skippaw eating alongside another apprentice, but judging by the way Daisypaw glared at her, she wouldn't be welcomed to eat with those three. Not that she had planned too.

Picking up a skinny rabbit, she turned her mind to-

"Who ya looking for?"

Instead of jumping back this time, Freepaw just flinched at the sudden voice. Sure enough, Goldenfur sat happily beside her, looking around the camp. "If you're looking for Blackclaw, he's still out patrolling. Probably wants to get a good look at the territory and all that, not that I can blame him. I mean, during the Great Return he probably heard tons of stories about the Lake Territory and he's only gotten to have a proper look at it now and-"

"ShhhhSSShhhhH." Freepaw said, reaching up and placing a paw on Goldenfur's head to stop her yammering. "I wasn't looking for him, I was looking for you. Redrose said I should ask you some…" She glanced about at the nearby warriors, all chatting loudly. "Stuff. Think we could find a quieter spot."

"HmmmmmmMmmmMmmm. Well, this is usually the time that I go gossip with Adderblood, but sure. Follow me!" Goldenfur said, walking happily towards the furthest wall of the camp, Freepaw quick on her paws.

"So, what's up?" Goldenfur asked, blinking cluelessly at her, clearly not taking notice of Freepaw's foul mood.

Usually Freepaw would be embarrassed to ask a cat about something like this, but Goldenfur's kit-ish attitude made it easier to talk to her, like the kittypets back home. There was no WAY Freepaw wanted the clan to find out that she was worried what they thought about her- which she WASN'T! She was just…..curious.

"You know about stuff the clan is talking about, right?" Freepaw asked carefully. "I was wondering if you could-"

"Oh yeah, I know tons of stuff! Like, did you know that Cloudystar apparently has a _massive_ crush on-"

Freepaw shook her head, "Ew, gross. No, I was thinking more like chatter about…" She pretended to think for a few moments. "Eh, me and my father. Any whispers?"

Goldenfur's eyes sparked. "Well duh! Not everyday we get new clanmates! Now let's see…" She gazed about the clan, settling her eyes on Greenclaw. "Greenclaw has been talking real good stuff about you two! Not that I can blame him, getting to talk so long with Blackclaw, ohhh! I can only imagine the stories he must have gotten to hear! Straight from Blackclaw himself too."

"….right. Anything else?" Freepaw wasn't surprised that there'd be good things about her father of course, but she was looking for more.

"Oh, Greenclaw's good stuff has been…opposed? Matched? Up against?" She shook her head and nodded to a white-furred warrior. "Uh, let's just say Nectarwind has been saying some mean stuff, ya know, about how you two are trash and shouldn't be here. He doesn't like Blackclaw cause of stuff during the Great Return."

Right, Freepaw vaguely remembered the tom from yesterday as she glared at him from across the camp."…." She waited a few more moments before turning her head back to Goldenfur, who also was watching the tom, albeit without the glare. "And that stuff iiiiiiiis?"

"Oh, I'm a story-listener, not a storyteller," An idea seemed to suddenly occur to her. "Oh hey, but if you really wanna know, you should ask the elders! They sometimes tell stories to the apprentices or kits." Puffing out her chest proudly she added. "I like to sit in on the stories sometimes too."

Ugh. The idea of going back to the elders den made her shiver. Still…if that's what it took to actually hear a bit more about her father's past then just vague mutterings…..plus…maybe if cats saw her talking to elders…they'd like her mo-

Nope, not thinking about that.

"Yeah, I might. Not like I'm gonna hear about him from anywhere else." She sighed, gobbling up her rabbit.

"But hey, enough about clan-thoughts, how was your first day? I mean, I heard Stillstone is in a mood, but she's, like, always in a mood."

To say that Freepaw talked spiritedly would be an understatement. She proceeded to weave a tale of truth with some exaggerations thrown in here and there. It was nice to be able to vent most of her feelings to a cat who didn't seem to judge her. Quite the opposite in fact, Goldenfur gasped and laughed at different parts of the recounting.

By the end of it Freepaw was feeling a little better, _she supposed_.

"And then she sends me off to the elders den after spouting all that nonsense. And from what Redrose said, she's gone off to complain about me to Cloudystar! Ugh, no wonder her name has stone in it, she's about as fun as a rock…"

Goldenfur seemed to be too preoccupied with other thoughts to laugh. "So Firstflare is going to be Firststar now? This is gonna be big news…" She gave a few short hops in place. "Oh, I _gotta_ tell _everyone_ about this! This is gonna get some conversations going! Sorry to dash but Adderblood has _gotta_ hear about this!"

"Do what you wanna." Muttered Freepaw, finally finishing her rabbit. "I'm gonna talk to my father about all the mentor nonsense."

"Well looks like you won't have to wait very long. Ain't that him over there?" Goldenfur gestured with her tail to where a small crowd had formed around the prey-pile. And just as Goldenfur had said, Freepaw could spot a long black tail at the centre of the crowd.

She quickly made her way over, the hubbub of the group playing at her ears.

"Three rabbits that big on your first day?! How in the name of Starclan did you manage that?"

"Ah, I got lucky. The third one practically ran into me. It does help that I'm use to hunting in unknown territories at this point though." Her father said in a smooth voice.

"And here I thought it would take ya some time to get used to the territory! Mossmaw, looks like you got some competition for best hunter, eh?"

"…m-maybe. G-G-G-Good job, C-Coal- I-I mean Blackclaw….sorry."

Freepaw was forced to wait as the crowd of cats dissipated, though the thought of interrupting the gathering did cross her mind. Eventually the group was whittle away until her father spotted her sitting a pace away, making his way over.

Blackclaw let out a happy purr."Well, they seemed impressed, didn't they? In truth, I was worried I'd return with nothing to show. Anyway, my hunt is done and your first day too. Want to grab some prey and discuss it?"

"Just ate." Freepaw responded shortly. "Listen, I wanted to ask you something. Did you ask Cloudystar to give me Stillstone as a mentor?"

Blackclaw tilted his head curiously. "Yes, I did, though I'm surprised that she told you. How did the topic come up?"

Best to avoid _that_ for now. "Not important. Why'd you choose Stillstone?"

The tone of her voice seemed to finally be registering with him. "Well, I believed she would be a good fit for you. You'd need a steady paw to guide you through training."

"Yeah, well as it turns out we are NOT a _good fit_. She went off at me for speaking my mind and then made me pick the tics off of the elders! That ain't training, that's a waste of time!"

Her father's eyes were growing dark with concern. "For speaking your mind? About what exactly?"

Freepaw scowled. "Why should that matter? Shouldn't you be on my side? Our names may have changed but I'm still your daughter."

"Well, if my kin had said such things, I most _certainly_ wouldn't have taken their side, quite the opposite." A cool drawl interrupted the conversation, belonging to the thin, white-furred cat that Goldenfur had pointed out earlier.

"Nectarwind." Blackclaw greeted apprehensively. "I…I apologise for not greeting you properly yet. I never found the chance."

Nectarwind sneered, an expression that looked quite at home on his face. "Oh, I ensure you, I can sleep quite soundly without a greeting from the famous _Coal_. Ah, my mistake. Blackclaw is the name you are pretending to go by now, isn't it?"

A fire surged within Freepaw. "Why don't you take a step closer and I'll make sure you sleep REAL soundly, out cold in fact."

Nectarwind smirked as if he had won a particularly intense game of mossball. "Temper, temper. I had doubted the whispers around the clan, but I have no trouble believing that _you_ insulted a newly-dead leader."

His words instantly took effect.

Blackclaw's eyes went wide. "What? What leader, Freepaw, what is he talking about?"

As Freepaw turned to see her father's face, Nectarwind's flickered an ear. "Ah, I believe I hear Icefur calling for me. I'll leave you two, shall I?"

While he slithered away Freepaw winced. "W-while me and Stillstone were out we can into some Thunderclan cats and I maaaaay have said their old leader wasn't 'all that great'." Seeing Blackclaw's expression darken, she said quickly, "But that's all! Well….okay, I may have called Cloudystar a dope but-"

"You _what_?!" Blackclaw hissed, his eyes somehow getting wider.

"Hey! You were surprised that he was even leader in the first place! Don't act like you-"

"But I didn't-….I was surprised, yes but I _talked_ with him and-" He growled in frustration. "Freepaw, I knew Cloudystar back when he was still Cloudyday. We both have totally different relationships with-"

"Oh, so _you_ can insult him but I can't? Oh yeah REAL fair!" Freepaw let out a bitter laugh, shaking her head.

"I did _not_ insult him, I was surprised-" He stopped, taking a deep breath. "Putting _that_ aside _for now_. What made you speak ill of a dead leader?"

"Oh. My. STARS!" Freepaw practically yowled. "Thunderclan is an _enemy._ We can say _anything_ we want about-"

"THERE'S MORE TO BEING A WARRIOR THEN JUST BATTLES AND-"

"Sorry to interrupt…"

They were snapped from their tunnel-vision by the sudden appearance of Redrose. "Blackclaw, Cloudystar wants to see you, he's just outside of camp. Perhaps time to break up this little scene?"

It was only then that Freepaw finally noticed that the rest of the camp had gone almost entirely quiet, the eyes of every cat outside on them, watching intensely. A sudden heat of embarrassment blazed it's way through her coat, only increasing at her father's parting words.

"We are _not_ done talking about this."

* * *

Freepaw had snuck out of camp.

No, she was NOT running away. As if she'd let something this…something this dumb leave her father alone here. No, it was just a hard time. Had she been expecting better after all their travelling? Maybe. Had she been hoping that things would get easier once they arrived? Probably? Was she going to let this stop her from becoming the best warrior she could be?

Of course not.

….it was just a problem to deal with. Nothing more.

She sat, looking over the moonlit territory, taking in the cool night breeze and the shadows of the swaying grass on the ground.

Once her father had stormed off with Redrose, the camp had become abuzz with activity. Not just about the argument of course, but also of the death of Thunderclan's old leader. Even as they had all settled down around three boulders for the night, whispers had still persisted until the quiet had settled in.

But even in the quiet, she still hadn't been able to relax, the memory of her father's eyes, ablaze with disappointment, burned into her mind.

And his last words. Did he not think she was suited to be a warrior? That she didn't understand what it meant?

…did she?

Before she could follow the thought any further, movement flickered in the corner of her eye and she dropped to the ground, entering the stealthiest hunting crouch she could muster.

A brown-furred, muscular looking cat was surveying the area, blue eyes glinting menacingly in the darkness. But that's not what caught her attention straight away. No, the first thing she noticed about the cat was the bright green collar that dangled from their neck.

What was a kittypet doing all the way out here?

After scanning the area for another few beats, the cat took off, dashing away in the direction of Riverclan, moving swiftly through what was most certainly NOT their territory.

….a true warrior protects their territory, right?

Freepaw stretched her legs, preparing to sprint. Then she _would_ protect her territory.

She would be a Windclan warrior. But right now? She just wanted to leave the territory, just for a little.

A single, dark cloud dimmed the starlight above.

What's the worst that could happen?

* * *

**Cats &Characters**

_(Blackclaw)_

_The newly inducted Warrior of Windclan, though many of his clan would say he has already earned his position many times over. Blackclaw travelled from afar with his daughter Freepaw to join Windclan, having a soft spot for that clan he had gained during his time in the Great Return._

_Blackclaw is soft-spoken, calm and humble. For this reason, he can occasionally come off as somewhat arrogant to those he speaks to. Along with this, he cares deeply for all things related to the clans, be it for the better or worse._

_He taught his son and daughter much of what he knows._


	5. Wishpaw's Meeting

" _Found you_." The shape growled.

The cat was holding Wishpaw down and nothing but fear seemed to be speeding through his coat. It was only when he managed to look up at his attacker that a different feeling spiked at his fur.

 _Confusion_.

The moonlight that streaked through the trees illuminated the attackers coat, revealing brown, messy fur that seemed impossibly tangled. However, it was when Wishpaw managed to make eye-contact with the cat when he recognised him.

Wishpaw spluttered out a weak "You're-" when suddenly, several things happened at once.

First, there was a snapping of a twig nearby, from the intruding cats direction. One of them was getting closer. Second, another noise came from that direction, a loud call of, "Pearl, what are you doing over there? We don't have time to be sniffing around!" Third, the cat on-top of Wishpaw lifted his wait from him, seemingly about to walk around the trunk and reveal himself to the intruders.

Fourth, and thankfully, a second shape dashed from the shadows, pushing the _first_ shape back onto Wishpaw and itself onto the first. In short, Wishpaw felt quite squashed and humiliated, only being able to let out a small squeak.

The second shape was NOT happy with that squeak.

"Keep quiet." The apparent she-cat hissed. "Wait till they move on."

As if he could if he tried. Wishpaw waited, breathing weakly as the two cats lay atop him, listening closely to the sound of the intruders.

"Pearl! Seriously! We need to head back to Emerald before he starts wondering where we are!" A voice demanded, sounding rather fed up with whoever this Pearl cat was, who was the next cat to speak up.

"Hang on…I think I heard something over-"

Wishpaw felt himself tense, as well as the other cats laying atop him. Thankfully, the fed-up sounding cat let out a growl of frustration.

"Pearl! I think _we_ would have noticed if we were being followed! Now cmon, we do NOT have time for this!"

The three stacked cats let out a simultaneous sigh of relief as they heard the unhappy snort of Pearl, who had gotten dangerously close to the tree they were hiding behind. They finally heard her pad away, quickly followed by the sound of the rest of her group padding off, all the while muttering to each other. It was at this point that Wishpaw finally felt it was safe to let out a hiss of anger.

"Would you GET OFF me!" He struggled futilely, kicking weakly at the cat above him, who let out a low growl.

"Would you _stop_ kicking me? I'll get off you when SHE gets off ME!"

The top cat snorted. "Which I will promptly do."

After a few seconds the trio had gotten back onto their own paws. Wishpaw's fear had been replaced by suspicion when he had heard the cats voices, one that was immediately confirmed when he saw just who it was who had been crushing him.

"What, in the name of STARCLAN, are you two doing on Shadowclan territory? YOU'RE suppose to be in Windclan and you! She's new to the clans but you should know to stay on Riverclan's land!"

The dark furred loner from a day ago scoffed. "Oh, I totally know to stay on territory. I just came over here to see what those intruders were doing. One of em was sneaking around Windclan's territory."

Before Wishpaw could lambaste the she-cat, the Riverclan warrio- apprentice spoke up. "And I'M here cause I saw _you_ sneaking around Riverclan! Just like I thought-"

Again, before Wishpaw could say anything, the she-cat spoke up again, this time talking to the other apprentice. "Oh, that wasn't him. I lost track of my intruder when I spotted you following one too. That Pearl cat one of em called out to? She's the one you're looking for. Just sorta looks like medicine-apprentice here…..really alike actually."

"You sure? Cause if so they look _really_ alike-"

"Would you two be _quiet_!" Wishpaw yowled, the cats finally falling silent. Deep breath in….deep breath out. "Okay….okay. _First off_ , what are you two's names?"

"We met before. Your mentor _told you_ my name is Maggotpaw." The massive apprentice growled, still eyeing Wishpaw with suspicion. This gaze found itself pulled towards the other cat when she let out a snicker. "Something funny?"

She looked to Wishpaw with a look that said ' _duh_ ' before speaking. "Well…cmon, you're named after maggots, that's prrrretty disgusting. Whatcha do to end up with a name like that?"

"Oh yeah? Did you get a proper name yet or you still going by whatever loner name you got stuck on you?"

"I DO have a name now actually. Freepaw."

"What, cause you got into Windclan freely because of your father?"

Freepaw laughed. "As if! I got in on talent I'll have you know! And it's Freepaw cause I'm as free as the wind. Ya know. Like _Windclan_? That too complicated for you?"

"Oh yeah, you're free. Free to blow away for all I care." Maggotpaw bit back.

"Look, that would cut way deeper if it wasn't from a cat named after a literal insect."

Wishpaw's tail flickered angrily. "Alright, is this what we're doing? You two just going stand around insulting each other on a territory you're NOT suppose to be on?"

Freepaw laughed again. "Hey, I'd be happy to insult a cat anywhere."

"The little cat is right." Maggotpaw muttered, ignoring Wishpaw's indignant cry of " _Little?!"_

"Look, if it wasn't a Shadowclan cat sneaking about Riverclan territory and its some rogue scum? Then that makes the situation worse. I have to get back to camp and tell Breakstar what's going on."

Breakstar, the leader of Riverclan. Wishpaw knew a little about each clan leader, but this particular one illuded him. "I encourage it. Once you two are gone I can tell Brightstar that we've been having loners AND apprentices sneaking about our territory."

For a brief, wonderful moment, it seemed like Maggotpaw was about to turn around with a snort and leave. But then?

Freepaw spoke up.

"Woah, woah, woah! Let's not be _too hasty_. Now hear me out." She lowered her voice to a whisper, causing Maggotpaw to lean closer. Wishpaw followed this movement too, albeit with an eye-roll.

"Now, call it the loner in me, but I got a better idea then just the three of us just running back to our clans with our tails between our legs. For one we'd-" She gestured bewteen her and Maggotpaw. "-would get in trouble for tresspassing. And you?" She twitched her tail towards Wishpaw. "Would be known as the cat who let rogues and apprentices wander the territory."

"So, ya know what would help us look good? If the three of us did a little snooping. I mean, these cats can't be too bright, right? We already managed to follow them this far AND we know they have to be somewhere. So we follow them a _little_ longer and we'll get our claws on some info that'll make us look better then just _apprentices._ We'll look like _warriors_."

Wishpaw narrowed his eyes. "So you're asking for our help? Weren't you just making fun of his name?" He nodded to Maggotpaw who gave a nod of agreement.

"Look, we're from different clans, we're suppose to insult each other. But I'd say that taking on rogues takes priority over you two. You want an apology? Give one and get one, big guy." Freepaw

"Who cares about an apology?" Wishpaw hissed. "There is NO way any cat would go along with-"

"Sure, I'm in." Maggotpaw said.

"Hey, nice!"

"You're WHAT?"

Maggotpaw gave him a shrug. "Gives me a proper excuse to stay out of camp longer. Sides, she's right. Going back with info about the loners will look way better."

Freepaw nodded enthusiastically. "See? He gets it and he's named after maggots for crying out loud! Now cmon. You know this territory, you probably know where a buncha rogues are going to camp out, right?"

"There is no way I'm going along with this." Wishpaw hissed. "I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to go _right back_ to camp and I'm going to tell Brightstar that we have rogues on our territory. And I'd HEAVILY advise that you not be here when she arrives."

He spotted a twitch of fear in Freepaw. Ah. So she had met Brightstar.

"Whatever. You wanna go back to your camp and tell everyone there you can't handle yourself? Be my guest! Cmon Maggotpaw, let's go get some work done."

"Don't tell me what to do."

Wishpaw set off, back in the direction of camp. He was doing the right thing of course. And the right thing is always the thing you should do…

Okay so he'd set out here looking to prove himself to Robinwing and maaaaybe Freepaw's…'plan' was perfect for that…but that didn't mean he should go along with it. Those two were from other clans, showing them around the territory was the complete opposite of what he should be doing. That's why he had to go back to camp.

' _So you're just letting them wander around?_ ' A little voice inside him asked. ' _Great idea. Now you're gonna get in trouble for letting them go AS well as the rogues._ "

He frowned. So what? Would it really matter if he came back with a little more info? What would that prove?

' _That you can handle yourself. Maybe Robinwing would think more of you then. She seemed to think highly enough of that Coal cat and he's Freepaw's father. Yet you wont go along with her plan. In fact, you're going to get her in trouble. I bet Robinwing would love that."_

His frown deepened. Robinwing would understand.

He hopped over a rock, nodding thoughtfully. Yes. This was fine. He was doing the right thing.

…

…..

…...

' _I bet father would have-_ '

Wishpaw spun around and let out a growl. Picking up pace and dashing through the shadows, it only took him a few moments to catch up with the lost looking Freepaw and Maggotpaw.

"Well, well, well." Freepaw smirked. "Look who-"

"There's an abandoned twoleg place." He said quickly. "If they wanted to stay out of sight but somewhere safe, that their best bet. Warriors stay away from it on most days."

Maggotpaw sniffed. "You know much about the place?" Thankfully he seemed to be taking this more seriously then Freepaw.

"Robinwing took me there once. It's in ruins so there's plenty of ways to sneak in. So long as we don't draw any attention to ourselves we should be fine." He looked back to Freepaw. "Think you can keep quiet for that long?"

"Dunno. Think you two can lighten up a little?" She gave him a small shove. "Cmon! This is like a smaller version of the clans teaming up, like in the stories! If we had some Thunderclan cat, we'd have the perfect team."

"We don't need em." Maggotpaw snorted, looking between the two. "We've got a medicine-cat, Windclan are known for they're speed and I am _more then willing_ to claw up some rogues." An unusual anger spiked through his pelt.

"Well hopefully you won't have to. Come. Abandoned place is this way. Let's at least try and be quick."

* * *

"That's the place." Wishpaw said. "The abandoned two-leg nest."

The odd den stood out in the forest to any cat who stumbled upon it. Apparently it had once been a proper home to twolegs and their kittypets, but when the clans had returned, the twolegs had abandoned the place, leaving it as it was now; a shambleing wreak with enough holes that, if it were a clan-cat den, Halfheart would be screeching loud enough for repairs that the whole forest would hear him.

Wishpaw had been there twice in his entire life. With Robinwing when she showed him the territory, the other with his father once when…ugh.

Well. Let's just say that his parents weren't exactly the most happy of mates.

"Ain't seeing a rogue-y hair or rogue-y hide." Freepaw grunted, scanning the nest with her eyes. "You sure they'd set up in a place like this? Doesn't exactly look comfortable."

"Probably makes it better. If cats don't think you're going to stay somewhere, then it's the perfect place to hide….maybe it's comfier on the inside?" Maggotpaw suggested.

"You know what isn't comfy?" Freepaw added thoughtfully. "The three of us being scrunched up in this bush! For real, do we HAVE to being in this thing?"

It was true. The bush the three had squeezed into wasn't as bad as being stacked atop each other, but Wishpaw still had to keep his tail tucked firmly to his side to stop it from poking out of their makeshift hiding spot.

"Look, if we're doing this then we're doing it right. We don't know enough about these cats to confront them directly." Wishpaw said. "Best to stick to the shadows."

"I don't think it's too bad." Maggotpaw chimed in.

"Course you don't think it's too bad, you're taking up all of the space! What does Riverclan feed you?" Freepaw muttered.

"Fish. What else would we hunt in the water?"

"I believe that was a rhetorical question."

"It was a VERY rhetorical question."

Maggotpaw snorted. "What does it matter what type of question it was? I still answered it."

"I…." Freepaw blinked. "…what? Do you not know what a-"

"Could you two _please_ stay on topic?"

They watched the abanonded nest for a few more moments, but Wishpaw couldn't keep the flickering of irritation from his pelt.

"A rhetorical question is a question that doesn't really require an answer." Wishpaw said automatically, feeling somewhat proud of how well he imitated Robinwing's 'mentor' voice.

He could hear the interest in Maggotpaw's voice as he let out a, "…huh. I knew that."

And from Freepaw? A scoff. "No you didn't. Anyhow. How about that rogue thing? Crazy, eh?"

"Right, right. See that hole?"

"Gonna need to be more specific there bud."

Rolling his eyes, he continued. "Left from the entryway, down near the bottom. Looks like we'll be able to slip through there. Should provide some cover too."

The three quickly moved across the clearing, ducking under the small fence that still did it's best to surround the den. Freepaw was, of course, the first to reach the wall, sticking her head in and grinning back at the two, motioning for them to follow as she slipped through the hole. Wishpaw waited a few beats for Maggotpaw to go in second, but he instead found the large tom looking at him expectantly.

"Warrior-apprentice in front, warrior-apprentice guarding the rear. Don't worry. If anyone tries to sneak up on us, I'll rip them to shreds." The tom said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Worked for Wishpaw though. "Uh. Right….thanks."

Slipping through the hole in the wall, the two made their way along a long, narrow passage, quickly catching up with Freepaw who had her head poking out into a wider area. Wishpaw could make out the dull sound of whispers coming from whatever it was they were hiding behind.

"See anything?" Wishpaw whispered, scrunching his nose up at the damp smell of the wood that surrounded them.

"See for yourself." She whispered back, with the most serious tone he had heard her speak in. She squirmed to the side, allowing him enough space to crawl in just beside her.

The scene before him was an odd one, not unlike a clan meeting. The main area of the den was littered with what must have been ruined two-leg….things. Some of them looked rather comfy, other less so. On each of them sat a cat, none of which Wishpaw had seen before. None of them looked how he had imagined rogues, instead looking like…well…ordinary cats.

The three of them had seemed to arrive in the middle of whatever it was that these cats considered a meeting.

Sitting atop a large, narrow looking two-leg thing was a thin, almost snake looking cat, who looked over the others with some of the most fed-up eyes that Wishpaw had ever seen.

"So you didn't find anything?" The snake-tom asked, narrowing his cold green eyes. "You've all been out, moving through these territories for an entire day…and you've yet to find _anything_?"

The cat closet to him let out a bored purr. "Well, I wouldn't say we found nothing. Plenty of those herbs seem to be around. I'm sure Sphene would have been thrilled to see them all. But honestly, Emerald, darling, try to be a little more cheerful. You must admit that this place is a nice change of pace."

The thin-tom, Emerald apparently, rolled his eyes. "We're not here for a change of pace Topaz. We're here to investigate. Tin, you were out the longest, please tell me you found something."

"Uhhhh, heh, sort of?" A nervous looking cat chuckled weakly. "So, uh, m-me and Copper managed to figure out which clan is in each territory o-or at least we think we have….might have gotten Windclan and Thunderclan mixed up to be honest…hahah…ha?"

Beside Wishpaw, Freepaw grunted. "Don't like that one."

The next cat to speak up, presumably copper, sounded quite bored with the whole ordeal, fiddling with a bright green colour that he wore. "Windclan is the one with the fields and the hills. Thunderclan is the most forested area, _not including_ the territory we're in right now."

"It's a start. But nothing more." Emerald said with a low hiss. "Anyone else have anything to report? At this point I'll take even the smallest thing…"

The cat at the lowest point, who had been laying on her back out of sight, finally sat up, causing Wishpaw to gasp. He had seen his relfection in water before, be it the lake or a stray puddle. And this cat?

It was like looking at said reflection but…different. Older, taller and more…tougher looking. The she-cat gave an excited hop. "Hey! When I was scouting out this territory, I saw this little cat who looked just like me!"

Freepaw stifled a snicker as Wishpaw squinted at his lookalike, confused. "Why do cats keep calling me small?"

From behind them, Maggotpaw said simply, "You are pretty tiny."

"You find a cat who looks just like you and _that's_ what's on your mind? Freepaw asked.

Diverting his attention back to the rogues, Wishpaw found Emerald shaking his head.

"Pearl, PLEASE tell me you didn't approach this cat. Our job will become infinitely harder if any of the clans find out we're here."

"Of course I didn't talk to him! I'm not dumb Emerald!"

Copper let out a yawn, giving his collar another flick. "Well someone here IS dumb enough to lead cats back here. There's three behind that wooden thing listening to us."

"No, no, no." Wishpaw snapped, beginning to back up, bumping into Maggotpaw's massive frame.

"Something happen? I can't hear a thing from here." The tom asked.

"Leaving. Now. MOVE!" Freepaw yowled. If the cats had been doubting they were here, they defiantly knew now.

Maggotpaw craned his neck in the most uncomfortable fashion, seeming to get a glance behind him. "No, forward. There's a rogue coming from behind us."

Before Wishpaw could say anything, Freepaw let out a "For Starclan's sake!" Giving him a rough push with one of her paws. She launched herself forward from the passage into the open, hitting someone, judging by the sound a yowl of pain.

"Wishpaw! Move forward!" Maggotpaw hissed, pushing him forward.

"B-but I don't know how to-"

Suddenly, Maggotpaw's teeth bit into the back of Wishpaw's neck, lifting him up and carrying him forward. He let out a screech of pain as he was carried forward into the open area, Maggotpaw tossing him roughly when they made it free of the passage.

Before he could get his barings, Maggotpaw barrelled over him, and Wishpaw once again heard a yowl of pain from two rogues this time, followed by a laugh of, "NICE!" From Freepaw.

Finally being able to pick himself up, he could see that the nest had turned to chaos. Maggotpaw was engaged in a skirmish with Tin and Copper, more so Copper. The two of them were almost comparable in size, Maggotpaw being a decent bit taller. The two cats scratched and snarled at each other, Maggotpaw constantly trying to wrestle his opponent to the ground. The most that Tin could manage, being far smaller, was to jump atop Maggotpaw's back, quickly being thrown off with a buck of the massive apprentices body.

Freepaw, it seemed, was taking the opposite approach. She give one cat a painful looking smash to the head, dash away from them, launch herself into another and picking herself up to find her next victim. She laughed gleefully, now being chased by at least three cats.

"Yeah! It was you!"

He spun around, finding the cat who had blocked his and the others exit; the lookalike.

Pearl looked him over, eyes shining with interest. "Wow, we DO look alike, don't we? Except your so much-"

Wishpaw began to back away, looking around for an escape. "Yeah, small, I-I know."

A wicked grin spread across Pearl's face as she lowered herself into a crouch. "Heh, yeah. Now cmon! Let's see our similarities translate to fighting skills."

His back was now up against the wall. "I…I'm not a warrior. I'm a medicine-"

For the third time that night, something heavey landed on him, but this one spoke with a terrifying calmness when compared to the chaos that had awoken.

"Yeah, don't worry, this ain't gonna be going on for much longer." The cat above him pushed her paw onto his neck and he felt the cold of claws pressing into his neck.

The voice calmness was traded for a yowl of urgency. "EVERYONE STOP! EITHER YOU ALL LOSE THE AGRESSION OR THE MEDICINE-CAT LOSES HIS NECK!"

Maggotpaw was the first to stop, having wrestled both Tin and Copper to the ground, letting out a growl when he saw the cat holding onto Wishpaw, the two rogues managing to wiggle free from his grasp and dash to a safe distance. Freepaw was slower to stop, quickly hopping out of reach of one of the rogues to higher crowd. Upon seeing him she let out a whine of, "Wishpaw, come on."

Emerald, who had stayed out of the fight to watch it from his podium quickly descended with a graceful jump, landing beside Wishpaw. "Thank you for that Iron. Good to see one of you didn't attack them blindly."

One of the rogues spluttered. "T-the black-furred one jumped at us first! She clawed up my side!"

"And I'll do it again!" Freepaw declared, leveling a glare at Emerald. "Now let go of Wishpaw."

Wishpaw tried to struggled away from the cats grasp but Iron had him held down firmly.

"You're being too hasty." Emerald said simply. "It would seem to me that, not only do we outnumber you, but we now have your friend at our _mercy_. Surrender and we will extend that same mercy to you."

Maggotpaw scoffed. "As if we could trust a bunch of scum like you. How about you let him go and me and Freepaw won't make you look worse then you do now."

Iron pressed her claws further into Wishpaw's neck, forcing him to hold back a squeak. "You really think you can move faster then my claws?"

"Yeah. That about sums it up." Freepaw growled. "Wanna find out?"

Iron growled back. "Wanna see him die?"

"Iron, we're not killing anyone tonight." Emerald snapped at her.

"Well that's something we can agree on." Said a new voice.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the one of the holes in the roof of the two-leg den, seeing a ginger-fur cat sitting there, the moon at his back. He hopped to one of the wooden planks, again to a large, rectangular two-leg thing, and then down to the floor. The tom gave a smile to each cat in the room, eyes settling on Freepaw.

"Freepaw! Good to see you again."

Even she seemed taken aback by the cats sudden appearance, but not enough to stop herself from giving a wave with her tail. "Oh. Uh. Hey there, Firstflare."

The tom laughed. "Ah. About that, it's First _star_ now. Anyway, how about we all calm down about this and have a nice, quiet chat. I'm sure we can figure something out."

Wishpaw had heard about Firstflare, the deputy, well, the apparent _leader_ of Thunderclan now. Wishpaw had no time to wonder what it was the leader of Thunderclan was doing on Shadowclan territory alone in the dead of night. But he was distracted by these thoughts when, just out of the corner of his eye, he saw Emerald's face.

The leader of the rogue's looked terrifyingly happy.

* * *

**Cats &Characters**

_(Firststar)_

_The newly made leader of Thunderclan, as well as the youngest of the current leaders. He's known around the clans for being especially friendly at gatherings, always having a story to tell or an ear to listen. He was of course sad to see the old leader, Quillstar go, but he's also determined to be the best leader he can be for his clan._

_As for why he's doing on Shadowclan territory, perhaps he'll have time to explain himself, if he can quell the tensions at the abandoned two-leg place._


	6. Freepaw's Mistake

"Freepaw! Good to see you again."

Freepaw had all kinds of questions buzzing around in her head.

Okay, well, she had more then questions, but one thing at a time. She was having a busy (if fantastic) night.

First off, was she allowed to meet up with cats from other clans? Wishpaw and Maggotpaw were the enemies of Windclan of course….but they were also…fun to talk to?

Like, Freepaw liked some of the cats in Windclan of course. Goldenfur was easy to talk to and Skippaw…had talk to her for a bit. Redrose had broken up that fight between her and her father before things had gotten worse?

Okay, so maybe things could be better. But Wishpaw and Maggotpaw? Sure, she hadn't known them for too long but they were _easy_ to talk to. When she said something snappy they didn't give her a frown or an odd look. They said something back! Almost like a real conversation.

She'd figure something out. More pressing matters to deal with.

The rogues. She and her father had of course met plenty of cats on their journey to the clans but none of them had been as organised as these ones.

For one that had a clear hierarchy. The higher they sat on the furniture, the more important they were. That clearly made this Emerald cat the leader, and the Iron one would be his second-in-command.

 _The_ Iron that was holding Wishpaw down by the neck.

Hm. She had been planning on doing something about that. Until _FIRSTFLARE_ HAD WALKED IN ANYWAY?! Was he THAT mad that she had said something bad about his predecessor? Was he doing some sort of scouting mission for Thunderclan? If so, why was he alone? WHY WAS HE HERE?

Her tail flickered in a greeting and she voiced the various feelings she was feeling.

"Oh. Uh. Hey there, Firstflare."

Okay, so maybe she didn't voice them particularly well, but that wasn't the point.

He laughed. "Ah. About that, it's First _star_ now. Anyway, how about we all calm down about this and have a nice, quiet chat. I'm sure we can figure something out."

"Oh, I am _sure_ we can." Emerald purrred, looking Firststar up and down almost hungrily. "Iron, let go of the medicine-kit."

Iron didn't take his eyes off of the leader. "A hostage could be vital in-"

"If we _needed_ hostages I wouldn't tell you to let the kit go. Which you should be doing!" He hissed, giving the cat a cuff over the ears.

Wishpaw scrambled away as the cat let him go, skidding to a halt over by Maggotpaw, who'd taken postion beneath the windowsill that Freepaw had settled on. And at the front of the small area they'd taken for themselves?

Well. They quite literally had a leader in their corner now.

"There we go. Knew we could sort something out." Firststar said, watching Emerald carefully. "Now, not to sound like a hypocrite but I'm pretty sure you all aren't on your territory. In fact, I don't think you even have a territory. Correct me if I'm wrong?"

Emerald nodded. "Oh, you are quite right. We-"

"Hold on a sec." One of the rogues said, a very thin one…named Tin? "Didn't you say that for now this was gonna be our-"

"All of you _need_ to shut up and let me do the talking. _I'm_ the leader. Just be quiet and follow. Any objections." Emeralds eyes scanned over the group, looking for any sign of defiance, grinning when the only sound was the wooshing of the wind outside. "Good."

He hadn't seen anything, but Freepaw certaintly had. The rogue she had followed, the one with the green collar named Copper? His eyes, for a split-second, had narrowed fiercely, before he had closed them. Maybe something to work with?

"Now, as I was saying, you are correct. We don't have the luxury of territory that you clan-cats wield. But we haven't come here to take it from you like some sort of thieves. Oh no, I ask that you not think of us as common rogues. We are _much_ more." Emerald stalked forward as he spoke, bowing once he had said his piece. Freepaw considered leaping down and smacking him.

"Good to hear. Way too late to be dealing with some…uh…" Firststar clicked his tongue. "Common rogues. You mind telling me exactly what it is that your doing here? Something very _uncommon_ I bet."

"Uncommon? Definitely. And it would be a great unkindness to refuse u-"

"Oh my stars!" Freepaw yowled. "We get it, you speak like your trying to impress everyone with ya big words! Get to the point!"

Emerald anwered her with a scathing look before looking back to Firststar. "Does this blathering kit speak for you?"

Firststar tilted his head, taking a moment to consider before answering. "I share the sentiment, but maaaaaaybe not the wording. It would be nice to find out why I found some _not-rogues_ beating up some…apprentices?" He looked back to Maggotpaw. "You _are_ an apprentice, right?"

Maggotpaw's eyes had been darting between every rogue in the building, his claws still out. "Yep. Thanks though."

A surprised smile spread across Firststar's face. "Wasn't really meant to be a compliment, but sure, feel free to-"

" _Ahem_." Emerald's grin was becoming strained. "Allow me to get to the point. Me and my…friends have travelled quite some distance to arrive here. We were hoping to find a cat of your position faster, but things could have turned out worse I suppose. You are the leader of Shadowclan I assume?"

"Hm? Oh, nah. Thunderclan."

Freepaw held back a laugh, seeing Emerald be knocked off his rhythm. "I…then how did you get here?"

"Walking. Bit of running here and there. Thought about skipping, but not really in the mood for that tonight." Firststar nodded back to Freepaw and the others. "They asked me to meet them. Then I saw them following after some of those cats behind you. Figured I'd check what was going on."

…. _what?_

She looked to Wishpaw and Maggotpaw, the former of which gave her questioning look, one she answered with a shake of the head. Maggotpaw just looked confused for a second before shrugging and continuing his glaring.

Emerald had begun to pace around the room, a frown on his face. All the rogues were watching him carefully, a few seeming to be ready to renter attack-mode.

"Well. That makes things difficult…very difficult. And leaves _us_ with the question of what it is that we should do with the four of you." Emerald's claws unsheathed and he examined them, glittering in the moonlight. "….what to do, what to do…we don't really _need_ anything from Thunderclan as of yet."

"Alright, listen, Emerald? Can I call you Em?" Firststar asked, continuing on without an answer. "I can tell that you and your gang aren't just _uncommon_ rogues. You are all cats on a mission. And whatever that mission may be, Thunderclan will be happy to help you with it. But first, you have to work with me here. I'm right here, right now and willing to talk. And not to step on any of the paws of Shadowclan-" He looked back to Wishpaw once again. "But you'll have a much easier time making a deal with me then you would Brightstar….right? Didn't want to assume but you _do_ smell like Shadowclan."

Wishpaw, poor little guy, looked very uncomfortable to be singled out. "I…w-w-well I guess it would be easier. B-Brightstar probably wouldn't show up here by herself…"

"Exactly! So, while this may not have been part of your plan, we can improvise something, right?" Firststar asked. "I mean, you seem like the kinda cats who are good at that."

It was as if Emerald didn't even have to think about it. "Very well! However, before we start our discussion, I would ask that these…. _kits_ leave us. We are about to discuss some sensitive information."

"What? No way, I wanna hear this stuff!" Freepaw yelled.

"Can't we just go back to fighting each other?" Maggotpaw growled.

"WE would be MORE THEN HAPPY to leave you all to talk!" Wishpaw had struck an excellent balanced between hiss and roar.

"Nah, medicine-cat has the right idea." Firststar said "But surrrrre. Could you three do me a favour? Just wait outside? Just wanna talk to you three afterwords. I know I'm not the leader of any of you, but that's why it's a favour."

Before either Freepaw or Maggotpaw could protest, Wishpaw quickly spoke.

"Yes, no problem, let's go, yep, we're going, _Maggotpaw MOVE!_ " It took a few pushes from the little tom, but Maggotpaw finally rolled his eyes and began to hop up to the windowsill where Freepaw sat.

Ugh, whatever. Freepaw gave each of the rogues one last look as she hopped down from the windowsill, landing on the rough grass of the outside. The place had began to smell anyway.

She walked forward, kicking at the grass. Finally something interesting had been happening and she got ordered out of it. Of course this wasn't the end, she couldn't just go back to Windclan and pretend she didn't see anything…

Hearing the sound of a rather rough landing behind her, she turned to see the two other apprentices picking themselves off the ground, Wishpaw clearly having fallen on top of Maggotpaw. Usually this would be hilarious, but she had other things to concern herself with right now.

"Can you believe this?" She stalked over to the other two. "I mean, WE followed the rogues, WE snuck in there and now they're telling HIM about why their here? How is that fair?!"

"It's fair…" Wishpaw grunted. "Because we were going to get our hides shredded until he came along. We should be thankful Firststar showed up."

"Shame he couldn't have gotten here a few seconds later. Would have loved to knock some heads together for a bit longer…" Maggotpaw looked back at the nest. "Why would he tell us to wait out here."

Freepaw rolled her eyes. "Cause he wants to give out to us, duh."

"It was for protection." Wishpaw noted, also looking back at the nest. It was when the silence went on for too long that he turned back to find two confused looking apprentices. "He's literally alone in a den of rogues. If something goes wrong he'll probably yell or something so we can go get help."

"Or he'll yell so we can run back in and help." Maggotpaw suggested, flexing his claws.

"Yeah, he would rather the two warrior _apprentices_ and one medicine-cat _apprentice_ run in there instead of us going to get an entire clan to help."

Maggotpaw peered down at him. "….I know your agreeing with me, but the way your saying it is really weird."

Wishpaw stared him for a few seconds. "Are…are you okay?"

"I'll tell you who isn't okay. Me!" Freepaw said. "We can't just sit out here and wait for Firststar, I'm going to do some eavesdropping."

Wishpaw looked like he had just gotten much more tired. "Freepaw, please don't-"

Maggotpaw interrupted with a, "Eh, go for it. Remember to tell us what you find out."

Wishpaw looked like he had more to say, but before he could open his mouth, Freepaw was already jumping from spot to spot, scaling the two-leg nest with ease. She had had plenty of practise back home with climbing buildings like this and honestly? It was a little nostalgic.

Clawing her way up onto the roof, she could already hear some small whispers getting louder and louder as she dropped into a crouch and approached the same hole that Firststar had leaped down from. She lay flat on the roof as she peered down at the scene below.

Firststar had taken position atop the tallest piece of two-leg junk in the room, Emerald being at a close second across on the room. All eyes were on the leader of Thunderclan. For a worrying second, Freepaw though that he had seen her, it must have been her imagination, as Firststar continued speaking to the rogues.

"So let me make sure I got this right. You all fled here looking for a place to stay for awhile and you settled on this place. And you were all fleeing from….what exactly?"

Emerald was, of course, the one to speak up. "A sort of poor imitation of one of your clans. We left a group of cats who all hunted and worked together. To spare you the tale, we fled because of a disagreement with our so-called-leader. And now we are here to find rest and collect our thoughts. For a time, any ways." He flashed a grin. "We come in peace."

"Glad to hear it. But I got the intense feeling that Shadowclan isn't going to let you stay on their territory. I'd invite you to Thunderclan but there isn't a big enough spot on our territory for you all to stay…"

"Perhaps we could work something out instead. You have a camp and we've proven that we don't wish harm to come to any of you clan-cats. Perhaps you could speak to your clan and we could…merge for a time? It would allow you to keep an eye on us if there is still any distrust between us."

Oh yeaaaah, that sounded like a great deal. Freepaw would be more likely to trust a stray dog then these cats. Especially Emerald and his dumb fake smiles.

Thankfully, Firststar seemed to feel the same way.

"Yeah….yeah no. Look, I like to think Thunderclan is fairly welcoming to outsiders, but a group this big and one that clearly all knows each other? Miiiight not work out to well. So, I got a different idea." Suddenly straightening up, Firststar looked far more leader like. "All four clans have a meeting each fullmoon called the Gathering. We got one coming up tomorrow and I could bring up your….issue at the Gathering. This problem would be much easier to solve if we could all stop sneaking about."

"And if the clans instead decide to drive us out? I doubt we'd be allowed at this meeting to say our piece."

"If they DO decide to take action against you, I'll see what I can do about Thunderclan backing you up. Second, there's a possibility that I could get you into it. You'd need to stick close to us of course, but I'll see what I can do."

A wave of whispers went over the rogues, silenced by a flicker of Emerald's tail. "Alright…this sounds like a good deal. But I get the feeling you want something in return."

Firststar laughed. "Just something small. You know those three apprentices outside? Maybe not mention that they were here unless it gets out some other way, yeah? I can handle a few questions thrown at me about tresspassing, but those three? Could mess up their apprenticeships. Big time. So. What do you say?"

Freepaw knew that the rogues would accept. Not like they had much of a choice, unless they wanted all four clans against them. Knowing the meeting was coming to a close, she snuck away from hole, and with a few hops and jumps, she was back on solid ground.

Wishpaw and Maggotpaw had sat down by a nearby tree, both seeming to be engaged in a very important conversation.

"But…like…were you made an apprentice a moon early or…?" Maggotpaw asked, still peering down at the smaller apprentice.

"No." Wishpaw said, with a _very_ deep frown.

"But then why are you-"

"Why are you so big? First time I saw you I thought you were a warrior." Wishpaw snapped back.

"You realise that's a compliment right?"

"Excellent. So now that I've complimented you can we _please_ stop talking about how small I am?"

Freepaw smiled as nicely as she could as she approached the two. "So you admit that you're unusually small?"

Wishpaw gave her a withering glare. "You got back from listening in on a meeting between a group of mysterious rogues and a leader and that's the first thing you say?"

"Eh, seemed like the _smaller_ -issue."

Maggotpaw snorted. Wishpaw buried his face in his paws. "I could _literally_ have my entire clan here in a few minutes, why am I taking this?"

"Okay, relax. Here's what I heard; Firststar is gonna bring those guys to the Gathering tomorrow night. They came here from some far off place and apprently were running away from something. Dunno what it is, but they want a place to stay for a bit. He's gonna talk to the clans about it tomorrow."

Maggotpaw uprooted a large clump of grass. "So what, they're all buddy-buddy now?"

"Nah, Firststar looked like he was ready to get out of there. He'd taken the high-ground and everything. I mean, they're clearly here for something more then a place to stay, right?"

Wishpaw looked thoughtfully at the building. "Of course they are. Their here for something more. They knew about the clans before they showed up here. If they hadn't then they wouldn't have been sneaking about. Knew the names of the clans too. Question is how they know?"

"Oh come on, that ones easy." Maggotpaw snorted. "There were cats who didn't come along during the Great Return. The rogues gotta have some relation to them."

"That's the thing my father was a part of, right? What's the deal with it?" Freepaw asked.

"Your dad never told you about that stuff?"

Freepaw shrugged. "He doesn't like to talk about himself. Only ever told me about stories from the old clans."

Wishpaw seemed to have a thousand different thoughts running around his head. "You want the long version or the short version."

"Can I get a medium one?"

"Fine. So, MOONS ago, way more then any cat alive right now could live, the clans all lived here in the lake territory. But something happened. Don't ask me what, part of the mystery of it is that no one back then ever passed down what it was, but _something_ beat the clans and the survivors were forced out of the territory and scattered…well, everywhere. Lot of the cats here aren't even related to the original ones. Everyone was scattered and traveled far away to find a new life. Some stuck together for a bit but…well, things apparently didn't work out."

"So more moons passed and the old clan cats had kits. They passed down stories about the clans to them and so on and so forth. Eventually a cat named Newleaf, yes like the season, got the idea in her head to return here. She and a group of cats set off on a journey back here-"

Maggotpaw huffed. "A _Great Return_ if you will."

Wishpaw nodded. "Well….it was. As they travelled more and more cats joined the group and…eventually, they ended up here. Newleaf never made it but….she apparently was the one who chose the first leaders for each clan….Quillstar, the leader of Thunderclan before Firststar? He was the last of them."

 _Ah._ Okay, maybe best not to mention her comments about the cat. "So…hows this connect to the rogues?"

"Well there's more groups of cats out there aside from the clans right? Must have run into some of the during the Great Return but they obviously didn't want join. Maybe those cats came here after leaving one of those groups. That's how they knew where to find us."

"And…my father…he was like important to this, right?"

"Not really on topic."

"Oh cmon Wishpaw, please? I never get to hear anything about him, this is, like, the closet I've ever gotten!" Freepaw whined.

"Look, I would if I could but I don't know that much about that part of-"

"Coal was part of a gang of cats who tried to hurt the traveling clans. He switched sides and helped them in some massive way, travelled around for a bit with them and then stopped for whatever reason." Maggotpaw said boredly.

Freepaw blinked. "He….he was…like, a bad guy?"

Wishpaw suddenly looked quite worried and said quickly, "M-maybe, but he-"

"That is SO cool!" Freepaw squeaked. "He's always been super simple about what's good and bad! Do you think he knows any evil battle-moves or something? Stuff that would catch your warriors off guard?"

"Why would we tell you if-"

"Oh, never mind! Why would he not tell me about this stuff? GAH! I wish Flint was here! He'd have no problem asking him to teach us some of his old stuff!"

Maggotpaw squinted at her. "We don't know who that is."

"Oh, he's my brother who-"

"Good to see you listened to me. Was worried you all would have scampered off by now."

Firststar strut out of the hole that the three had originally entered, looking a little frazzled, but none the worse for ware. Freepaw could see the glint of eyes watching them from the nest.

"Cmon, let's walk and talk." Firststar said, walking past them. Giving each other a look they set off after the leader.

"If your gonna ask us why we're here then-" Wishpaw began, but Firststar booped him on the nose using his tail.

"Look, let's be honest. I don't think _any_ of us are where we're suppose to be right now. So, I'm gonna work under the assumption that we were all out here cause we saw some suspicious looking cats and wanted to do our clan proud, right?"

"Yeah."

"Yep."

"Sure."

"Alright. In that case I'm gonna have to ask you three a favor. I'm gonna be handling the situation at the Gathering tomorrow, so that whole thing we just went through? Think you can keep quiet about it?"

"What? No!"

"Brightstar would want me to tell her!"

"Sure."

Both Freepaw and Wishpaw looked at Maggotpaw who shrugged. "It's gonna be announced at the Gathering. So long as Riverclan knows something is up, I did my job."

Freepaw grit her teeth. She had done the job of a warrior but…would Stilllstone and her father get mad at her for sneaking out, even if she had found some important information. Like she needed them to be even madder at her….

So. Tell them and possibly get in trouble with a little bit of good light put on her? OR say nothing and just try and do better during her training…hmmm.

Hmmmmmm.

"Ugh, fine." She said. "I won't say anything but I AM not happy about it." Usually she'd like the riskier option then the safer one, but the idea of her father yelling at her made the safer option far more appealing.

"Hey, relax. I'll owe ya one." Firststar shot a grin back at her. "What about you medicine-cat? You up for it?"

"It's, uh, Wishpaw….and…and I think I have to tell Brightstar- _hang on_!" He squeaked, everyone having come to a stop to say something to him. "Look…I know that you don't want us to get in trouble, and believe me, I can imagine what Brightstar would say if I told her I had let two apprentices and the _leader_ of Thunderclan were on our territory and I didn't tell her…..BUT I am going to tell her that…that…that I heard some weird noises and that I saw a rogue sneaking about. She probably won't want to do any serious investigating until after the Gathering anyway, so…it'll be fine."

Firststar's frown turned into a reluctant smile with a sigh. "Well…not like I can tell you what to do. Guess it's what I'd want to hear if a Thunderclan apprentice found em hiding out on our territory. Anyway, enough sneaking about for tonight. I recommend you all get back to your clans, as I will be doing."

Something suddenly occurred to Freepaw. "Hold on. You're gonna tell the clans about everything at the Gathering, right? Won't you have to admit you snuck over here?"

"Oh, trust me. That isn't gonna be the only thing I get in trouble for tomorrow, believe you me…" The leader of Thunderclan let out a sad laugh and hopped atop a nearby rock and grinned at each of them in turn.

"Freepaw, Maggotpaw, Wishpaw. I will see you all at the Gathering tomorrow. Thanks a lot." With that he hopped down from the other side of the rock and disappeared into the night.

"…." Wishpaw looked to Maggotpaw. "How'd he know your name?"

"Oh, we met at a Gathering. Also you hissed at me back at the rogues hideout."

"Ah. Right." Wishpaw looked off into the distance after the leader. "Anyway…you two follow his lead and get going. If we are going to the Gathering we need sleep." Almost to emphasise his point, he let out a mighty yawn.

Maggotpaw seemed about to follow the order without a word, but Freepaw managed to reach out to his tail and hold it down. "Nooooot so fast there. Look, I figured, since we're all going to the same thing tomorrow and since we're all keeping the same biiiiig secret, why don't we meet up there? We can keep an eye on each other and make sure we don't spill the secret."

Wishpaw frowned. "You realise that we're still from different clans right? Don't you have other cats to be talking with?"

"Course I do." Freepaw lied with ease. "But change of pace would be nice. Ya know, mix things up a bit. What about you Maggotpaw? So far you've had surprising answer to things."

"Yeah, I have no problem with meeting up. Would rather throw myself into some brambles then talk with my clanmates anyway."

"Why would-" She stopped herself. "Questions for later. But come on Wishpaw! If the two of us are then you HAVE TO! And! With the three of us we have just enough cats to make the whole 'enemy of my enemy is my friend thing' make us all friends, yeah?"

"We're not _friends,_ Freepaw."

"Cmoooooon! Look, I'm sorry about calling you small and stuff, but can you please?"

Maggotpaw shrugged. "Hey, if Wishpaw trusts us not to say anything to blow the secret then that's his business."

The cat in question looked like he'd been hit over the head with a bit of prey before he rolled his eyes. " _Fine_. But just so we're clear this is to make sure you _don't_ say anything to get us in trouble. And NOT because we're-"

"WELLWITHTHATOUTOFTHEWAYISHOULDGETGOING, GOODBYE NEW FRIENDS!" She hollered back at them as she took off in the direction she'd came earlier that night.

So that thing? About the other clans being enemies? Turns out, not entirely true. Or at least in Maggotpaw and Wishpaw's case. She'd never thought when she had arrived at the clans that she'd find it easier to talk to the two cats who'd she met having some sort of border dispute on the first day.

She felt oddly…happy? As she skipped, dived and sprinted over the Shadowclan territory and eventually Riverclan's, she found herself smiling. So her first proper day in the clans hadn't gone so well. But her second night? She'd met a leader, crossed (sorta) enemy territory and found out about a secret group of rogues that could be tied to the clans past!

But, unfortunately, that warm feeling that Freepaw was feeling couldn't last forever. In fact, it didn't last too long at all.

Because, as she emerged back onto Windclan's territory, it was only after a minute or so that she was stopped dead in her tracks by a white-furred cat with a serene expression on his face.

"So." Cloudystar said. "What were you doing on Riverclan territory?"

* * *

"You have not been in the clan for even a MOON and you already managed to get yourself in enough trouble to meet with the three of us? Freepaw, _what is wrong with_ -"

Redrose purred. "Take it easy, Stillstone. I think she's realised she did something wrong. Didn't you see her face when the three of us came _striding_ towards her?"

"Redrose has gotta point. Maybe lower the volume a bit?" Cloudystar suggested, laying on his back and looking up at the emerging dawn.

Yeah, things had taken a turn for the worst since Freepaw crossed back over onto her own territory. To his credit, Cloudystar had asked her in a very calm fashion to wait a bit outside the camp and she'd done so. It was only when she had seen him approaching her with Stillstone and Redrose by his side that she considered the running option.

Stillstone growled, pacing around the rock that Redrose had taken for a seat, his eyes closed. "Honestly? What in the name of Starclan would drive you to trespass into Riverclan territory? What were you doing over there?"

…oh, to hell with the secret, if Wishpaw was telling a little she could too.

"I-I thought I saw something, a cat that I didn't recognise. I thought if I followed them I could find out what they-"

Redrose cracked an eye open. "You saw an intruder on our territory?"

A flicker of hope was lit within her. "Yeah! I figured that if-"

Redrose opened both eyes, tilting his head to the side. "Was there a reason that you didn't alert a warrior?"

The flicker had water poured over it. "I….I guess I didn't think-"

"Exactly!" Stillstone snapped. "You didn't think! Just like when we met that Thunderclan patrol! There are literal kits in our clan who know not to try such a stunt! Was this rogue even real? Or did you just feel like letting off some some steam? Honestly! Wandering about in the middle of the night-"

Freepaw had to hold back a hiss. "I am NOT lying about the rogue! If it's a problem that I was out that late then why was he there?" She nodded towards Cloudystar.

The cats he had brought with him had two _very_ different responses.

First, Redrose shrugged. "He's been doing it for moons now. Calls them his, 'night-time strolls'."

Stillstone, on the other paw, looked like she was about to lunge at Freepaw, but instead raised her voice, "How DARE you, he is YOUR LEADER and is free to-"

"That cloud looks like a star." Cloudystar chimed in thoughtfully, still looking up at the sky. He let out a laugh. "Heh. Stillstone? It's a cloud-star. Eh? _Eh?_ "

Redrose had a rather small smile on his face and Stillstone looked like she held back a yell. Through gritted teeth she hissed. " _Cloudystar._ Could you _PLEASE_ take this seriously?"

Cloudystar sighed, sitting up. "Alright. Just for you though."

He surveyed Freepaw with calm, blue eyes. "Did any cats see you on Riverclan territory?"

"No, no one saw me while I was on the territory." Not a lie…really.

"Well that's something. And this rogue. Did you see where they went?"

"I..I lost track of them." Okay, that was defiantly a lie.

Stillstone snorted. "Give me a break. We don't even know if-"

Cloudystar kept his eyes on Freepaw. "Stillstone, I said I'd take this seriously and I will. Now, Freepaw. Do you think you deserve to be punished for this?"

"I….I guess I do. I'm sorry."

Cloudystar nodded calmly. "Alright. So it's decided. Stillstone, as Freepaw's mentor I'll leave her punishment to you, and yes, I think that's fair!" Freepaw had been about to speak up. "This _is_ a serious offence. Stillstone, Redrose, anything to add?"

"I'll make sure she learns her lesson this time." Stillstone seemed to have calmed herself. "We won't need to have another one of these meetings."

"I'm not sure why I'm here." Redrose confessed, closing his eyes again.

"Eh. It's fun to do things together." Cloudstar said. "Anyway, let's get back to the clan. Let's try and get the dawn-patrol out on time."

Before she could take a single step to follow the three cats, a thought struck her, one that forced her to keep the desperation out of her voice.

"Cloudystar! I…w-would I still be able to go to the Gathering?"

Her hopes were crushed when the leader turned to her, a pitying expression on his face.

"Sorry. But…I think you know the answer there."

…

…..

Freepaw flickered her tail.

"I _am_ going to that Gathering." She whispered to herself.

She had cats expecting her. Wishpaw, Maggotpaw and even Firststar himself.

She wanted to see them again.

* * *

It had been an interesting night.

That was Firststar's thought as he looked up at the amazing sky above. He had never looked at it properly before. It was like the massive black coat of a cat, speckled with a thousand shiny spots. It was so…beautiful.

Was it odd that he was thinking that now? Shouldn't he have had more important things on his mind? About his clan? About what might happen to them? Maybe, if he thought of... _something_ , something clever, something incredible, he could find a way to get out of his situation.

But he didn't. And that thought terrified him, despite how quickly it was fading.

And as he lay there, Firststar died his last death.

* * *

**Cats &Characters**

( _Emerald)_

_The leader of a group of rogues who have set their hideout in the abandoned two-leg nest on Shadowclan territory. The group has traveled far to find the clans, claiming to be looking for a place to stay for a time. Freepaw doesn't trust them for a second._

_As for Emerald himself, he gives off the impression that he's as likely to bite you as he is to smile at you. Perhaps this is the reason he manages to keep a group of rogues in check while still talking to them as if they constantly annoy him...or perhaps there's something more going on._

_He and his group hope for Firststar to find a place for them with the clans...or so they say._


	7. Wishpaw's First Gathering

"Did my parents ever have another kit?"

It probably wasn't the best time to bring the question to Robinwing, but it had been the first time that day that Wishpaw had gotten a proper chance to ask his mentor the question without risking being overheard. The last thing he needed was for the clan to hear even more about his parents.

And so he had waited until a moment alone with her. And that's how he found himself posing the question to his mentor in the middle of Shadowclan territory, as they had been searched for cobwebs. They hadn't seen a hint of the silky material shining in the lazy afternoon sunlight that fought its way through the pine tree's heavey leafs.

It was disappointing when said mentor answered him with a shrug followed by a, "Dunno."

He frowned, settling down on a rock as Robinwing poked her head underneath a dusty looking bush. "You didn't think about that too long."

"I didn't need to." Came Robinwing's muffled voice. "I was just a kit when your parents were mates. And when I was made a medicine-cat? They were still mates. So it's entirely possible they had other kits." She shuffled backwards, emerging from the bush empty-pawed. "And if they did? I wouldn't know."

Wishpaw sighed, thinking aloud, "That's fair. I suppose if they had then they would have said something."

"Not necessarily." Robinwing said, and then suddenly looked like she regretted it.

Despite this, he latched onto the words, hopping down from his rock to approach her. "Explain."

Robinwing placed a paw on her face, covering her mouth and shook her head. Wishpaw rolled his eyes and reached up to her, pulling the paw away. "Explain, please?"

"You miiiiight not like it."

"I don't like fighting and I'm learning it anyway."

Robinwing judged him for a second before nodding. "Fine. I suppose refusing to answer a question would be very _un-mentor-y_ of me."

"So, based on our current information, we believe your parents had no other kits. But lets pretend for a moment that we know, for certain, that you have kin out there. Now we just have to figure out how it would be that we've never met them or heard about it."

Wishpaw waited for his mentor to continue, but they simply stared at each other for a few moments instead, until Robinwing snorted and trotted over to another nearby bush. "Well go on! I'm not going to do all the work for you!"

He took his eyes off of her and looked to the ground, thinking. "Right…if they did have another kit then it would have been during the Great Return, right? If it had been after then…then we might have heard about it. There's no reason why the clan wouldn't say anything."

With her voice muffled once again, Robinwing agreed. "Yep! Sure, it's not guaranteed but it's more likely. The clans weren't properly in place back then, so if they had another kit it then it would be entirely up to them if they wanted to share the news. Now, why would they _not_ want to do that?"

"Because they…..lost it." Wishpaw tone took a darker turn as he finished the train of thought. His mentor emerged from the bush, a small tangle of cobwebs around her paw. "You think they had a kit and it _died_?"

"Bleh. Dark." Robinwing stuck her tongue out briefly. "Come on, lets be more optimistic here. And let's _also_ use that information that you told me about this morning."

"A-ah. R-right." He padded over to her nervously, taking the cobwebs in his mouth.

Yes, his mentor had caught him returning from the odd meeting he'd experienced last night. She'd been sitting outside the medicine-den, waiting for Wishpaw's return. And of course, he had had no choice but explain everything to her.

Well. Not everything. Wishpaw kept his agreement with Firststar true, only saying that he had been outside the camp when he'd seen a rogue, nothing more and nothing less. He felt bad lying to Robinwing, even more so when it had seemed she knew that he was withholding something from his mentor.

And yet, she had supported him. Contrary to the plan Wishpaw had spoke of last night, it had been Robinwing who'd informed Brightstar of the supposed rogue sighting. He had spoken against this of course, but Robinwing had reasoned the situation out with him. If an apprentice were to be found having snuck out of the camp in the middle of the night, there would surely be consequenes. But if the medicine-cat did it? Well, it was odd, but not worthy of punishment.

She'd lied to Brightstar for him. Not a task to be taken without thought.

"You think this rogue could be related to you, don't you?" Robinwing said, her tone flat.

Wishpaw met her gaze and did his best to give a determined nod.

"Thought so. It'd be odd for you to ask this without something happening." Her gaze softened. "And, if we following our thinking from a moment ago? That would mean the kit became a rogue. But there's no way they just abandoned their kit and it survived out in the wilds to grow up. No, the kit would need a place to grow up….a group."

By the time Wishpaw realised where Robinwing was going with the thought, she was already striking a pose. "And so, I propose that there's not just ONE rogue sneaking about our territory, but perhaps even MULTIPLE!"

Wishpaw blanched, blinking as his mentor. Through the cobwebs, he scoffed a muffled, "Don't you think your making a few leaps of logic?"

"Oh, not just leaps, bounds and jumps too. I'm an excellent jumper. And your taking after my example" She suddenly cuffed him over the head, a smile on her face.

"Wishpaw, just because a cat looks like you doesn't mean you're related to them! Heck, there's a warrior in Thunderclan, Clover-something who I think I share a resemblance too. Doesn't mean he's my brother, right? Well….far as I know."

"Besides. You only saw this rogue for a moment, yeah? Maybe if you saw em for a few more seconds, we wouldn't even be having this conversation." Her tone was light and jokey, but Wishpaw hoped he could hide the nervousness from his smile.

"Yeah…yeah you're right. Sorry for bringing it up."

"Hey now, you don't gotta apologise. Better then just leaving those thoughts to swirl in your mind, right?"

Wishpaw gave a muffled agreement and the two took off, padding through the forest with the intent to return to the Shadowclan camp. It was getting later in the day and that meant one thing; the Gathering was approaching. And with it's approach, as well as the conversation he'd just been a part of, Wishpaw's thoughts lingered on the rogues.

Was he worried? Of course he was! Even if they did have a leader like Firststar being the one to announce the news, that didn't mean it would go well! What if one of the other clans decided they didn't like the idea of rogues and took matters into their own hands? Or what if Brightstar didn't like the rogues staying on her territory even for a little bit and launched an attack? What if-

Well, he could think of a few situations that led to many cats getting hurt. And the most important part in stopping them from occurring was how Firststar handled the situation at the Gathering. For that, Wishpaw just had to have faith in….the leader who had swaggered into a den of rogues by himself…

Well. There were other parts that could help smooth the rest over. Speaking of…

"About the rogue." Wishpaw hated speaking with a mouth full of cobwebs, but he hated being left in the dark more. "How did Brightstar react to the news?"

Robinwing scoffed. "You know her. When I crack a joke I can't tell if she's mildly amused or thinking about throwing me in the lake. She did tell me she's planning to have a meeting before the Gathering, so maybe we'll find something out there."

Not much to work with there. "Well, what do you think she'll do?"

"Oh, she'll react calmly. It's just a single rogue after all, who knows if they're still on our territory. She'll probably send out a patrol to investigate and if they find a rogue? Well…depends what they're like."

"But what do you-"

"Wishpaw, you know I love to answer questions, but can it _please_ wait till later? We have important things to do back at the clan before tonight. _VERY_ important things…" As she said this, Robinwing turned her head to look at Wishpaw with a serious look.

Before he could ask what she meant, she took off sprinting in the direction of the clan, giving Wishpaw no choice to follow in her steps as quickly as he could.

* * *

By the time they had returned to the camp and dashed back into the medicine-den, Wishpaw was panting, gasping for air as he place the cobwebs down in the herb storage. Robinwing watched him do so, the same serious expression still on her face.

"Alright." She muttered, tail curled around her paws. "I've been waiting for this for some time now. Maybe catch your breath? This might take a lot out of you."

Nodding, he finally managed to get his breathing under control. "Is this going to be some sort of Starclan thing? You seem oddly…stern."

"Of course I'm stern. It's time for you to fulfil your word, Wishpaw." Robinwing snapped. "You should know exactly what I'm talking about…"

Drawing herself up to her full height, she continued. "Wishpaw, the time has finally come. The time for you to have a meal with the other apprentices!"

And in an instant, the tension disappeared from Wishpaw's pelt. He frowned and whispered the word, "Seriously?"

Instantly, Robinwing lost her calm exterior and broke into a fit of giggles. This time it was her who had to catch her breath. Once she did, she continued, this time with a s smile on her face.

"Remember? You promised me that you'd eat with the other apprentices before the Gathering. And guess what's coming on quickly? Boom! Gathering. So I am sooooooo cacheing in that promise."

Wishpaw knew that he had promised, yet he was still prepared to protest a little, about to cite the rogue as a reason that he'd have too much on his mind. But before he opened his mouth he saw a certain look in Robinwing's eye. A look she normally had when she was about to go on a rather long lesson.

She was expecting him to argue with her.

"Oh right. Yeah, I'll get right on that." He said simply.

He took a _little_ bit of pleasure in seeing her thrown off her rhythm, Robinwing clearly having to rethink whatever it was she was going to say.

Whatever she thought of, it began with her giving a shrug. "Huh…can't say I'm not diappointed, but that's probably a good thing. I can save a speech for later on." She tilted her head and examined him. "You feeling okay? I was thinking that something seemed different about you…don't think just seeing a rogue could do this to you…"

Wishpaw tried not to look alarmed as he spoke. "Am I? I don't feel much different."

"Even better then! Now get out there and to some socializing. I have important mentor-y things to do." With that she spun round and began making a small package of herbs, most likely for the elders.

Leaving Robinwing to her work, he stepped outside into the fading sunlight and took in the camp.

You could easily tell that the Gathering was fast approaching. The camp was full of cats who had settled down in groups, all happily eating their meals and chatting amongst themselves. He could see Halfheart and Brightstar sitting outside the leaders den, speaking in hushed whispers, Halfheart looking furious and Brightstar looking as calm as ever. At the other end of the camp, Wildway was recounting some sort of story to the two siblings, Waspfang and Webwhisker, the latter looking far more impressed then his sister.

He found his target, that being Leafpaw and Bugpaw who were chatting by the apprentice-den. This would be easy, wouldn't it? Just last night he'd gone on a mini-adventure, met cats from the other clans and that's not even mentioning the rogue thing. How hard would it be to talk to the two apprentices, one of which he was almost, sort of friends with.

For a brief, odd moment, he found himself wishing that Maggotpaw and Freepaw were here. They had been easy to talk to. He was _allowed_ to be unhappy with them and they didn't seem to mind it at all. Here he'd have to be more…careful.

Of course, he dismissed this thought quickly. He had no reason to think of those two. He should be happy to talk with cats of his own clan instead.

He could have leapt for joy when he and Leafpaw's eyes finally met and she waved him over cheerfully, even smiling when she saw him! Now that was a good start! It would have been better if Bugpaw didn't look annoyed at her invitation.

He trot over, nodding to the two as he sat down. "Uh…hey."

"Hello yourself." Leafpaw said. "Good to see you actually getting to eat today. You seemed super tired yesterday and I don't think I saw you get any prey….are…you going to get some prey?" Her eyes flickered briefly to the prey pile.

Starclan's sake, he'd forgotten to get some food. And worse still, it's not like he could go over there now. He'd look like an absolute fool.

"Not hungry." Wishpaw lied. "I was fine yesterday too. Brightstar gave me a mouse to eat in the medicine-den."

Bugpaw tore off a piece of his own mouse and scarfed it down. "Oh, so you get to talk to Brightstar too? Goodie for you."

Leafpaw looked downright mortified at his words and Wishpaw quickly ran through everything he knew about Bugpaw to find where the comment could have come from.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Wishpaw asked, having not been able to think of a reason for the hostility.

Bugpaw gave Leafpaw a look that screamed, ' _he's kidding, right?_ ' before speaking.

"Well, let's see here. You're the medicine apprentice who is also being trained by the deputy and you also get to eat meals with the leader? I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm surprised that you'd free yourself from that den to talk to us _lowly_ normal apprentices."

"S-so how about the Gathering tonight? You guys think-" Leafpaw began, being interrupted by Wishpaw.

"Hey, hold on. First off, I don't _want_ to be learning from Halfheart in the first place. Secondly, Brightstar wanted to talk to me about-"

"Oh, poor Wishpaw. It must be _horrible_ to have to speak and learn from both the leader and deputy." Bugpaw finished his mouse and glared at him.

Wishpaw blinked in confusion. "What's the matter with you? We haven't spoken in moons, why are you so-"

"Look, unlike that mentor who you spend all your time with, I don't owe you an explanation for anything. Why'd you even come over here? Me and Leafpaw were enjoying ourselves till you showed up."

Now _that_ earned a growl from Wishpaw. "I don't know if you noticed, but _you're_ the one who began this…well I'd call it an argument, but you don't seem to really have a point here."

"My _point_ is that you should go back to your DUMB den with your DUMB mentor and-"

"How about you try calling Robinwing dumb again. Go ahead. See what happens you _hostile little furball_."

"You guys are being loud and annoying." Said Beepaw, who suddenly sat down beside Wishpaw. "Greenclaw told me to come over here and change the subject of whatever your talking about."

"T-that sounds like a good idea!" Leafpaw finally spoke up. "H-how about…training! Wooltail taught me this really cool battle-move the other day."

"Oh, I trained with Wishpaw yesterday. He even managed to beat me…kind of." Beepaw noted, staring blankly at Wishpaw. "It was more like you beat both of us really."

Watching his own paws, he mummered, "Well I didn't mean to. It was an accident."

"Well, a few accidents like that in a battle and y-you'd be fine, right?" Leafpaw said, seeming quite happy that the conversation has lost the tension it had before, Bugpaw having taken a grumpy interest in the goings on of the clan rather then the cats in front of him.

"I'd much rather win a fight on purpose…actually, I'd much rather not have to fight at all." Wishpaw confessed.

"It is odd hearing an apprentice say those words. I suppose that's the difference between us and a medicine-apprentice." Beepaw spoke as if this was a completely new discovery.

Before Wishpaw could respond, Brightstar's yell filled the camp.

"All those old enough to stalk through the shadows, gather around high-branch for a clan meeting."

Bugpaw sprang up and stalked off without a word, joining the gathering of cats who were surrounding the branch that Brightstar, Halfheart and Robinwing had sat down on. Robinwing was whispering something to Halfheart who seemed to be trying to ignore her, staring ahead determinedly. By the time Wishpaw and the other two apprentices joined the group around high-branch Brightstar had begun speaking.

"I'm aware that many of you are looking forward to the Gathering tonight, so I shall keep this brief. I have received reports of a rogue being spotted on our territory." A wave of whispers had been about to break out, but they were silenced with a flick of Brightstar's tail. "I understand many of you will be eager to set things right and chase the intruder from our territory, but this has come at something of an unfortunate time. We must first attend the Gathering before we see to this matter."

"Now, considering a rogue is clueless of our ways, none of you will speak of this at the Gathering, even if the clans have similar stories. It would be unsurprising to find the cat has been trespassing on every territory. If we are to share the news I shall announce it myself. Is there any questions?"

A silence fell over the camp and after a few moments Brightstar leapt down from the high-branch, the crowd parting for her to pad through.

"In that case, you all know which of you are coming. Let us prepare for the Gathering."

* * *

The group of Shadowclan cats moved through the territory with barely a sound, the only one being the whisper of the cats themselves. Wishpaw had to try his hardest to keep up, the entire group running after Brightstar's trail, forcing them to duck and weave through the logs and grass. It too a considerable amount of effort, but Wishpaw managed to catch up Robinwing who ran near the front of the group.

"Anything I should know about the Gathering before we get there?" He managed to get out, almost tripping over himself.

"Hmmmm…just what'd you'd expect, don't share any clan secrets, try to be friendly, but not too friendly and don't start any fights. Heh, I remember me and Halfheart's first Gathering. Pretty sure he almost started an all out war between us and Windclan."

"It didn't go _anything_ like that." Halfheart barked from nearby. "Stillstone just got mad at me for stepping on her _precious_ Cloudystar tail!"

"And you both went on to become deputies. Funny how that works." Robinwing snorted.

Brightstar was suddenly between the two, having slowed herself. "If you're both done reminiscing, I ask that you quiet down. We're approaching the island."

Sure enough, it wasn't long before they overcame a hill and found themselves on a trail that led to a log that crossed over to an island that held more cats then Wishpaw had ever seen in his life. It was only then that he was reminded of his agreement with Freepaw and Maggotpaw. Would it be okay for him to speak with them? Or would he be expected to stay with his clan for his first Gathering?

He didn't have time to think, Shadowclan practically charging their way down the hill, almost effortlessly making their way across what should have been a slippery log with surprising grace. Wishpaw had almost been expecting himself to fall in, but something about being with his clan somehow made his paw-steps feel stronger.

Finally setting his paws on the island for the first time, Wishpaw took a deep sniff of the air, his nose being assaulted by two scents immediately. The first was that of fields and what he suspected to be rabbits, clearly Windclan. The second was what they were surrounded by, water, with a mix up the forest in it, obviously Riverclan. Looking ahead, this information presented itself in a far clearer manner.

Crowds of cats populated the island, each cat seemingly being oddly skinny or having a large sleek pelt. As they arrived, and with the nod of Brightstar, the cats of Shadowclan dispersed amongst them, some receiving far more friendly greetings then others.

Feeling the tap of a tail on his shoulder, Wishpaw turned to see Robinwing. "Cmon. The medicine-cats always meet up at this. Aside from talking to the apprentices, I figure that meeting the other medicine-cats could be good for-"

The stench of fish suddenly intensified and Wishpaw heard a gruff voice.

"About time you showed up. How did Windclan arrive before you did, they're trip is almost twice as long."

Wishpaw turned to Maggotpaw, rolling his eyes. "You _know_ I'm not allowed to tell you that. Why would you even bother asking?"

Maggotpaw shrugged. "Maybe you'd slip up. Anyway, cmon I wanna talk to-"

"Oh, hello there Maggotpaw." Robinwing greeted, unable to keep a hint of surprise from her voice.

The massive apprentice set his lazy eyes upon her. "Hm? Oh, I don't want to talk to you. I'm here to speak to Wishpaw."

Wishpaw _wished_ he could plant a paw firmly on his face, but all he could do was look up to see Robinwing's startled face.

She managed to recover herself and give a weak laugh. "Uh….not that I want to discourage friendly relations between clans, but…weren't you yelling at my apprentice the last time you two met?"

If this memory worried Maggotpaw, he sure didn't show it. "Yeah we were. But I want to talk to him now, to like apologise or whatever."

Before Robinwing could speak again, Wishpaw spoke up. "It's fine, really. I doubt he's going to try anything here. I'll try and meet-up with you later."

It may have just been his imagination but…did Robinwing look impressed?

"Uh…sure. You go talk and I'll be around…when you need me." A small smile spread across her muzzle. "Heh. Have fun, Wishpaw."

"Yeah, we'll have tons." Maggotpaw snorted. "Now cmon, I know a good view of oak-tree where the leaders meet."

Wishpaw gave an apologising look to Robinwing who returned it with a casual shrug, before following the Riverclan apprentice along the edges of the crowds of chattering cats.

"You couldn't have gone about that in a subtler way?"

"If you're trying to tell em I did something wrong, it's not working. No clue what subtler means and it doesn't matter. It worked, didn't it?"

Letting his voice once again take on Robinwing's mentor voice, Wishpaw spoke plainly. "Subtle. It means….to go about things in a more careful manner."

Maggotpaw nodded. "Always learning new words when I'm with you. Anyway, I think Freepaw is trying to be 'subtle'. Whatever she's doing, she's acting weird."

"Just what we needed. You know what's wrong with her?" They sat down near the edge of the island, beside a rather large bush.

"Nothings wrong with me!"

Wishpaw leaped back, eyes darting about for the source of Freepaw's voice, only stopping when he saw a goofy grin on Maggotpaw's face as he nodded towards the bush.

Wishpaw could have _sworn_ he felt himself grow weaker. "Freepaw…for the love of Starclan, tell me you're not inside that bush."

"Alright. I am not inside the bush." Came Freepaw's voice from the bush.

"She's totally inside the bush." Maggotpaw snickered.

"But _why_ is she inside the bush?"

"Bushclan." Was Freepaw's reply, a twig being flung from inside the bush into Wishpaw's face.

Picking the twig from his fur, he growled. "Can you _please_ take this a little more seriously? Something tells me that you didn't start a new clan."

Freepaw's eyes suddenly appeared in the dark of the bush, blinking. "Look, it's just important that I stay in here, alright? Can't risk being seen."

"I guess you could say she's trying to be _subtle_." Maggotpaw winked.

Giving a small nod to him, Wishpaw decided that questioning the situation could wait till another time. "Alright, I'll play along. Anyway, any sign of Thunderclan and Firststar?"

"Nope. Riverclan got here first and Windclan not too long after us. Shadowclan was already kind of late so Thunderclan is _really_ cutting it close."

Freepaw snorted. "Well duh. Firststar said he was bringing the rogues with him, remember? Course he's gonna have a hard time leading that lot over here. Though I would give _so_ much prey to see that Emerald cat fall off the log."

There was a small moment of silence where the three all sat together, listening to the sounds of the other cats. Despite the noise, it was oddly peaceful, seeing so many cats speaking happily together under the light of the full moon.

The truth was that he had refused to go to the Gathering the first time Robinwing had asked him to come along, deciding instead to stay in the medicine-den that night. But now?

Well, sitting there with Freepaw and Maggotpaw, he decided it wasn't _too_ bad. Even if he was stuck sitting with a bush.

The silence was broken with a yawn from Freepaw. "Ugh, I'm bored. When is the Gathering suppose to start for real?"

"We need all the clans here first. That's when the leaders will start talking." Wishpaw said, spotting Halfheart talking with the other deputies near the foot of the oak.

"Then they go on and on about how their clans are doing great, even if their obviously not. Then eventually everyone gets tired of their talk and we all go home." Maggotpaw said.

The bush scoffed. "So they just talk until there's nothing else to say?"

Wishpaw shook his head. "That's not the only way a Gathering can end. If Starclan becomes unhappy with what's going on, they'll send clouds to cover the moon. It's a sign that-"

"You trying to tell me that a bunch of ghosts send a cloud to shut us up?"

Maggotpaw laughed. "That's one way to put it! You'd think Starclan would have a better way to tell us their not happy, eh?"

Wishpaw found himself frowning. "You shouldn't talk about Starclan like that."

"Hey, if they weren't happy with him, I'm sure they'd let us know." Freepaw said. "Honestly, I have a hard time believing in all this Starclan stuff. How do you even know, _for sure_ , that they exist. Might just be a buncha rituals."

Wishpaw looked towards her in horror. "You _cannot_ be serious!"

"Wishpaw." A tail poked out of the bush. "I'm the most serious cat you've EVER met. Unlike Starclan, who I bet you've never met."

He grimaced. "W-well not yet. But when I got to the Moonpool I will!"

Maggotpaw let out a thoughtful hum. "I'm gonna have to side with Wishpaw here. The whole nine-lives thing is pretty definitive proof that Starclan exists."

"….. _what_?"

Wishpaw was pleased to have a smug smile on his face. "The leaders having nine-lives? I think that put a hole in your theory."

Following a beat of silence, Freepaw's head poked out of the bush. "Okay, you _have_ to look me in the eye and _seriously_ tell me that leaders have nine-lives."

"Freepaw." Wishpaw flickered his tail. "I'm the most serious cat you've EVER met. Come on. You're dad must've told you about Starclan bestowing nine-lives upon the leaders of each clan."

Freepaw's eyes widened. "I…I thought that was just part of the stories. Like that dumb one about the three cats having powers."

"Oh, The Three!" Maggotpaw sounded oddly happy. "That's my favourite one. And yeah, it did happen. Lionblaze was the best of them."

Wishpaw found himself smiling now. "Hollyleaf was always my favourite."

"What? No way, she didn't have any powers, doesn't count. Sides, I figured you'd be more of a Jayfeather kind of cat."

"You better not be saying that just because I'm a medicine-cat."

Freepaw had been flickering his eyes between the two. "You're…you're both messing with me, right? Like, obviously there's some truth in those stories, but they get exaggerated….but theoretically, how would I get these nine-lives?"

"By becoming a leader…" Wishpaw gave a sniff of the air. "Speaking of which, smells like Thunderclan is here. Must've brought the rogues with them."

Maggotpaw craned his neck to look over the crowds of cats. "I ain't seeing any _disgusting_ rogues….hang on…" Sitting up, he took a few steps forward. "….Firststar ain't with them."

Wishpaw felt a flicker of fear burst inside him. "What? That can't be right."

But Maggotpaw's words proved to be true. Joining the other leaders on the lower branches of the large oak was not Firststar, but a different tom with a brown coat that almost seemed to border on being red.

As the tom climbed made his way to the branches, a hush fell over the clans and a leader spoke up, who Wishpaw guessed was Breakstar, leader of Riverclan.

"Blazeclaw. What reason has a warrior for being up here. If Quillstar is somehow unavailable shouldn't his deputy take his place?" Asked Breakstar.

The cat, Blazeclaw spoke, and in his voice was pure rage. "Quillstar died early yesterday morning. Firststar was recently made leader." His growl continued to grow louder as he spoke and as he turned to speak to the rest of the clans, his voice reached a full on howl of fury.

"AND FIRSTSTAR WAS **MURDERED** _."_

The clans seemed to break out into even more yells. Questions, exclamations and confusion filled the air, but for Wishpaw, the world seemed to go quiet.

Maggotpaw's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak, closed it and then let it hang open again, seemingly at a loss for words.

It was Freepaw who voiced what they were all thinking.

"Oh _, that CANNOT be good._ "

"SILENCE!" Blazeclaw yelled. "THUNDERCLAN HAS LOST TWO LEADERS IN SUCH A SHORT TIME. AND WE DEMAND JUSTICE!"

"Okaaaay, let's try and calm down a little." Spoke a white-furred leader who must've been from Windclan, Cloudystar. Wishpaw would have been suprised by his lazy tone if he could have gotten his thoughts straight.

Cloudstar, ignoring the gazes that were leveled at him, continued. "Now, before we all start yelling at each other some more, mind giving the rest of us an explanation?"

"Oh, I'd be HAPPY to explain myself." Spat Blazeclaw, once again turning to the crowds. "Firststar's body was found on Thunderclan territory, having _clearly_ been clawed by a cat. He was found by an apprentice, Pinepaw and by the time he was he had CLEARLY been long dead."

"How is that possible?" Brightstar spoke up. "He _did_ make the journey to the Moonpool, did he not? His nine-lives should have given him a _massive_ advantage over any cat who dared to attack him."

"Unless the attacker managed to kill each of his nine-lives." Cloudystar spoke as if he was talking to himself rather then the clans.

"Not impossible." Brightstar nodded. "In the legends the same thing happened to Tigerstar, did it not?"

Blazeclaw snarled. "And the same Tigerstar had his throat RIPPED OPEN. I carried Firststar's body back to the clan myself! Whatever _murderer_ did this killed him for _each_ and _every_ one of his lives. They….THEY KILLED HIM, EACH AND EVERY TIME. AND WE KNOW WHO'S RESPONSIBLE."

"Just today, a patrol of rogues was found on our territory. They _mocked_ us, asking us where Firststar was. And we chased them… _ohhhh_ , did we chase them." He turned on Brightstar. "We chased and tracked them ONTO YOUR TERRITORY! YOU HAVE AN INFESTATION, BRIGHTSTAR!"

"…I wasn't aware…not fully." Brightstar said slowly. "We spotted a single rogue on our territory but if there really is more…" Her eyes narrowed. "You think they overwhelmed Firststar with numbers."

"How else would a leader have their lives knocked off one by one?" Breakstar said, shaking his head. "All signs seem to point to these rogues…"

Yells of agreement filled the Island.

"Who else could it have been!?"

"We need to find them and purge them from the territory!"

"Figures Shadowclan wouldn't notice an entire group sneaking about!"

"We did notice them, aren't you listening you-"

Suddenly, an odd sound filled the Island, once again silencing the cats. It was an odd noise, somewhere between a moan and a screech. It was only when all the cats had quieted when all eyes fell on Cloudystar.

Finishing up what seemed to have been the loudest yawn possible, the leader rubbed his eyes. "Alllllright. Seems I gotta be the voice of reason here. Blazeclaw, you have my condolences for the loss of two leaders. But why would the killers come and mock you straight afterwards? Rogues can be odd, but incurring the wrath of an entire clan, heck maybe even ALL clans? That doesn't make a lick of sense."

"Oh? Something you'd like to tell us Cloudystar? Is the half-asleep leader know something the rest of us DOESN'T?" Blazeclaw advanced upon Windclan's leader.

The cat didn't seem threatened in the slightest, only shaking his head. "Nah. Just saying we should think things through before we go knocking heads together. Mind backing off? Think I feel a sneeze coming on."

It was Breakstar's turn to growl now. "Cloudystar, show some respect. And Blazeclaw is right. Unless any cat here knows something then these rogues MUST be the killers. The clans need to act, NOW."

"Hmmm. No." Cloudystar said. "I will not have Windclan act without decisive proof. I get the feeling there's more going on here then just-"

"OUR LEADER IS DEAD AND YOU WANT TO-"

"Cowardly Windclan! Of _course_ they'd be fine letting rogues run free!"

Wishpaw could just make out Halfheart's cry over the crowds"Oh, you can't blame them with a fool like Cloudystar for a leader."

The deputy beside him almost seemed to double in height as she hissed, "HOW DARE YOU INSULT CLOUDYSTAR! HE IS COMPLETELY IN THE RIGHT!"

"If Windclan will not act then we should attack the rogues without-"

A lot of sounds had quieted the Island that day but none were as threatening as the yowl that came from Brightstar in that moment. Wishpaw saw many cats, Maggotpaw included tense up, as if they had just been presented with an enemy that they knew they should flee from.

Brightstar padded calmly towards the front of the branches, the three other leaders keeping their eyes on her; Blazeclaw with quiet fury, Breakstar with worry and Cloudystar with curiosity.

"The rogues are on Shadowclan territory and from the sounds of it, Thunderclan was too, albeit briefly. I'll let that tresspass slide, seeing as you were smart enough to bring the matter to the clans rather then intrude further. That being said, it is up to Shadowclan to decide the course of action. Unless you want to begin a fight with us. Something I wouldn't recommend."

Being met with silence, Brightstar continued. "And what I have decided with this. While the belief that the rogues are the killers is well warranted, Cloudystar also has a point. As such, Shadowclan shall conduct it's own investigation first. And if we find the rogues to be guilty? They shall either flee or be wiped out."

Blazeclaw managed to collect himself. "You can't-"

"This is a compromise. If you act recklessly more cats _will_ die. I shall send a patrol to inform each clan of our findings. Obviously this cannot wait till the next Gathering. Any objections."

"Works for me." Cloudystar shrugged.

"It seems to me the best option is to trust Shadowclan with this matter." Breakstar admitted.

"…. _fine_. It seems Thunderclan has no choice but to join the rest of the clan in waiting. However, we will be ready the second the truth is found. Mark my words, those rogues _will_ be the cause of this chaos. Firststar MUST be avenged."

The clans were finally allowed to speak freely as the leaders lowered their voices to speak amongst themselves, their deputies joining them. Some cats spoke in whispers, others speaking as loudly as possible to make others aware of their opinions.

Wishpaw finally managed to find their voice. "Idiots…"

Maggotpaw shifted his eyes to him. "What you thinking?"

"We met the rogues and they had an entire conversation with Firststar. Even if they were waiting till we left to do something it would make no sense for them to make an agreement with him only to kill him after we all separated." He looked to Freepaw. "Plus your leader is right. We met those cats, they were being sneaky, didn't want to make the clans angry. Why would they go _mocking_ Thunderclan. No, they were genuinely looking for Firststar."

Freepaw spat. "Damn it. Things are getting messed up. Does this mean there's some other group going around looking to hurt the clans?"

Wishpaw shrugged. "That or it was one cat who killed Firststar."

Maggotpaw shook his head. "Get real. No cat can kill a leader nine times over."

* * *

**Cats &Characters**

( _Brightstar)_

_The leader of Shadowclan, as well as one of the more feared cats of the forest. She's an excellent hunter but her true strength is in battle. She was a key part of the Great Return, most likely how she gained her position of leadership._

_Her voice almost always seems calm, making it all the more commanding when she does decide to speak up. Many in Shadowclan were suprised when she made Halfheart her deputy but they trust her enough to not question it...to her face anyway._


	8. Freepaw's Punishment

So, Firststar was dead, Thunderclan was thinking that it was Emerald and his rogues that did it and Shadowclan was going to investigate the rogues themselves before deciding to wipe them out or…whatever was Brightstar's plan if she decided they didn't kill Firststar.

Freepaw tried to make herself more comfortable in the bush she had been sitting in for what felt like an eternity. It hadn't been easy to sneak to the Gathering without Windclan noticing her. But after that it had been a simple matter of finding a good hiding spot and waiting for one of her friends. Honestly, the most risky thing she had done was _easily_ getting Maggotpaw's attention. She could have sworn her father had spotted her at one point, but she'd gotten back to her bush easily enough.

She looked up through the leafs of her hiding spot to see the stars glinting above her. Wishpaw and Maggotpaw also seemed to think that the rogues were innocent.

Freepaw scoffed to herself. Well, innocent in the case of Firststar's murder. She was pretty sure that Emerald was guilty of something, even if it wasn't being a killer.

But that begged the question of who killed the leader. A question that Freepaw wanted answered as soon as possible.

She was awoken from her thinking daze by the sharp cuff of a paw over her head, Maggotpaw's to be exact.

"Have you been listening?" The fish-smelling apprentice asked, pulling his paw from the bushes interior. "We need to decide what we're gonna do about this whole thing."

"And I say that we leave it to the warriors. Look, I know we know a tiny bit more about the rogues then them, but that's all. The warriors are gonna be far more competent in investigating this stuff then we would be." Wishpaw insisted.

"And I'm telling you that we need to do our own thing. As if we can leave it to the warriors. Half of them we just cheering that they should go after the rogues right now. Can't trust warriors to do anything, I'm telling ya…" Though she couldn't see him, just from the sound of his voice, Freepaw could _hear_ Maggotpaw rolling his eyes.

"You're an apprentice, you are training to become a-" Wishpaw paused before starting again. "Look, lets examine the situation. We got messed up with those rogues, Firststar has to bail us out and then this happens. I'm almost considering telling Brightstar everything that happened that night but…"

Freepaw finished the thought. "You'll get in major trouble? Yeah, I'd wait and see what she gets from the rogues herself. She seems-" _Terrifying_ "-smart enough to get as much info as we did."

"You're both being dumb." Maggotpaw said. "If you wait that long to tell them then you'll get in even worse trouble and look like a coward. Best time to tell your leaders was the night we got back."

"Tell me you didn't tell anyone. That what we agreed to-"

"Course I didn't. Difference is, I'm not even considering saying anything. Ever."

Wishpaw looked like he was about to say something but decided against it, tiling his head as he looked to Maggotpaw. "Don't take this the wrong way, but what's the deal with you and-"

"Was wonderin where it was ya ran off ta."

Freepaw retreated further into the bush, now barely being able to peer out. A tall, slender she-cat had approached them, her eyes narrowed on Maggotpaw.

"Good ta see ya making friends, but Ottertail is looking for ya. We're gonna be heading back to camp but he wants you ta meet someone. Probably shouldn't be chatting with Shadowclan anyhow." The she's voice was smooth as water, and not once did her slits change from the narrow slits that they seemed to be stuck as.

"Whatever." Maggotpaw huffed, stretching as he got to his paws. As the she-cat took off he made to follow her, albeit as a far slower pace, but not without looking behind him and saying, "I'll see you around. Hopefully when we find out what clans are gonna do about the rogues."

And with that, it was only Wishpaw sitting beside a lonely looking bush…or that was hopefully what it looked to the cats around them.

"So there's something up with Maggotpaw, right?" Wishpaw whispered to her. "He doesn't seem to like his clan or…anything really. Especially not rogues."

"Untrue, he seems to like us." Freepaw moved closer to him through the bush. "I suppose we should feel honoured. Or maybe we're just naturally charismatic."

"Says the cat hiding in a bush."

"Says the cat who was held hostage by some rogues."

"Fighting skill does not equal charisma. But you know what does? Not annoying other cats. Seriously, you gonna tell me what you're doing in there? I assume your hiding from someone."

….ugh, whatever. It was embarrassing but Wishpaw seemed like he would understand it. Plus she probably owed him a little. If a cat did look over then it would appear that Wishpaw was talking to himself or an empty bush. Something she'd find quite funny if she wasn't the one in the bush.

"Alright…look I may be in some trouble with my clan. Nothing big but…well, big enough for Cloudystar to say that I couldn't come to the Gathering. It's actually kind of funny, he-"

Wishpaw spun towards her immediately rising up to double his height. "YOU _SNUCK_ HERE!?" It was only when he realised that his outburst had drawn a few cats eyes that he sunk back down to his normal stature.

"Why would you do something like that? Don't you know that-"

Whatever he had been about to lecture her on, it was interrupted by something that was _much_ worse. Before Wishpaw could hiss at her whatever he had been planning to, a familiar voice hit Freepaw's ears.

The voice of her father. "Ah, you are Robinwing's apprentice, correct? My apology but I seem to have forgotten your name."

Freepaw retreated far enough from her father that she could barely hear Wishpaw's nervous voice through the branches and leafs.

"I-it's Wishpaw a-and you don't have to apologise. We didn't exactly meet for too long and I had other things on my mind…s-so how have things been in Windclan? Is….is Freepaw doing okay there?"

"Well, things have been up and down but I shouldn't expect perfection, should I? Ah yes, I should inform you that my name is now Blackclaw…" A sigh of disappointment. "And on the subject name, if you know Freepaw's new one too then she must be the one in the bush…as I…" Wow, another sigh. "…suspected. Wishpaw, your clan should be leaving any moment. I'd appreciate it if you left me to speak to my daughter."

Wishpaw's jaw hung open for a few seconds before he mummered a, "Good luck, Freepaw" and too off in the same direction Maggotpaw had. Freepaw was willing to bet Wishpaw didn't have this much trouble with HIS parents. Whatever. Wasn't his fault.

Freepaw considered running of course, but with there being a single exit off of the island and all, that wasn't much of an option. But at the same time she _really_ didn't want to come out of the bush and get in more trouble.

"Freepaw."

Maybe if she stayed quiet he'd just leave? Then she'd at least be able to put off the lecture for some time.

"Freepaw, come out here."

Maybe she could learn to swim? How long could it take, like five seconds?

"Bell. Please."

…..oh, he just HAD to use her old name, didn't he?

Freepaw finally emerged from the bush, shaking a few leafs from her pelt. Thankfully, the island had almost completely emptied at this point, the only cats still there being Blackclaw, herself and surprisingly (and worryingly) Cloudystar, who sat atop the log that connected the Island to the area around it. And, of course, he was looking right at the two of them.

And when she took her eyes off of Cloudystar, she was met with an even worse sight; her father. He didn't look angry or mad as she had expected. No instead he just looked….tired. And disappointed. And it was that moment that Freepaw decided that the situation was far worse then she thought.

"Hey." She said, deciding to take a quick and firm interest in the ground.

"Freepaw…you know the consequences." Blackclaw's voice reached her ears.

"Sorry." She whispered.

Blackclaw turned his back to her and began to pad off in the direction of Cloudystar.

"Yeah. I know."

* * *

"So, let me see if I understand the situation." Stillstone looked like she was a step away from losing her mind. "First, you insult the dead leader of a clan who just today lost yet another. Next, you insult our leader. After that, you SNEAK onto ANOTHER CLANS TERRITORY in the middle of the night. And then, after your told your not going to the Gathering, YOU SNEAK THERE AND SPEND THE ENTIRE TIME TALKING TO CATS FROM OTHER CLANS?!"

"She's not dumb enough to say anything important to them." Blackclaw whispered, looking at the wall of the den. He hadn't looked Freepaw in the eye since he had caught her.

"Of course I didn't say anything." Freepaw stopped herself from hissing the words, feeling the intense stare of her so called mentor upon her.

Cloudystar purred, relaxing in a next in the corner of the den. "Relax Stillstone. They probably had other things to talk about. That Gathering wasn't exactly a conventional one."

Redrose spoke in his usual buttery tone, but with a hint of annoyance thrown in. "I hate to be the one taking this off topic but should we look into getting a leader den of some sort? Having such negative feelings in the medicine-den may throw me off for some time."

"Ah yeah. Sorry bout this." Cloudystar yawned. "Stillstone doesn't like to yell in front of the clan and somehow the elders den didn't seem like a better idea."

Yes, once they had gotten back from the Gathering, Cloudystar had taken them into the the hollow boulder that was the medicine-den. And within, she had once again found herself facing the deputy, medicine-cat and leader of Windclan, with her disappointed father thrown in for good measure.

Freepaw wanted to sink into the ground and never, ever come back up. But if she did begin to, she felt as if Stillstone might leap in after her and drag her back to the surface.

"We can discuss that later. Freepaw had shown blatant disregard for the rules of the clans and what it is that not just I, but we have asked of her. Even when we try to punish her she ignores us and does whatever it is she wants. An apprentice should _never_ act that way." Stillstone paced in the den, not taking her eyes off of Freepaw who couldn't bring herself to look at her mentor.

Redrose seemed to notice this. "Well now, let's give the cat some credit. That rogue she told us she saw? With the new information we've been given her story seems to speak the truth."

"Or it's coincidental." Stilstone hissed.

"It's not." Cloudstar meowed from the nest.

"How can you know for sure?"

"Leader's intuition. I can _sense_ these things." He opened a single eye, looking to Redrose. "That's a thing Starclan gives leaders, yeah?"

"As far as I know? Possibly. You were given nine lives and each should have given you a gift when you became leader, though that may just be a ceremonial sentiment rather then a literal one." He gave Cloudystar a tiny kick. "Could you please get out of my nest."

"Nope. Got this for my third life."

" _Cloudystar._ You NEED to take this seriously." Stillstone groaned, looking down at her leader. "How can you be this calm?"

"I must agree with Stillstone." Blackclaw said, finally looking from the wall to the leader. "I'd appreciate it if you give this matter your whole attention."

Redrose laughed, strutting over to Blackclaw to pat him on the back. "Ah, I would expect this from you Blackclaw…but _you_ Stillstone? Well…I suppose you haven't known Cloudystar for as long as I have. He's already made up his mind on what to do."

Cloudystar opened both his eyes, frowning. "Think you could tone down the smugness a little bit? I've _almost_ made a decision."

"Sure…if you'll get out of my nest."

Cloudystar grumbled something and as he did, Blackclaw spoke up. "So, what have you decided?"

Cloudystar looked from him, to Stillstone, to Redrose, finally resting his eyes on Freepaw herself…..before he closed them. "Oh right. I've got a craving for a squirrll but I'm not _super_ hungry right now. Stillstone, Blackclaw, could you go check if there's one in the prey pile? Don't wanna set myself up for disappointment."

Almost in sync, Freepaw and her father blinked in confusion, but he was the one to speak. "If this is a joke then I'm not laughing. What kind of-"

Stillstone began to pad out of the den. "Blackclaw. Come on. It'll only take a second." Though her father didn't see it, Freepaw spotted Cloudystar giving a small nod out of the corner of her eye, one the deputy returned without hesitation.

Blackclaw grit his teeth. " _Fine._ But you better be ready when we get back." With that the two of them walked from the den.

Redrose turned to a pile of odd looking plants in the corner of the den that smelled rancid. "Guess I'll just pretend to be deaf for a few seconds, eh?"

"Please and thank you." Cloudystar yawned. "Freepaw, look at me."

Clearing her nose she looked away from whatever it was Redrose was busying himself with to see Cloudystar had opened his eyes again, but different then she had ever seen them; Cloudystar's usually lazy blue eyes were now narrow silts as he gave Freepaw his undivided attention.

When he spoke though, his voice was the same sleepy tone he always spoke in. "Say, Freepaw…why is it that you want to be a warrior anyway?"

"I…huh?"

"Why do you want to be a warrior?"

"….uh." This was probably some kind of test. "…I..guess to protect this clan?"

"Starclan, like I haven't heard that a thousand times. Perfectly reasonable answer of course, but I get the feeling you ain't thinking hard enough. Cmon, answer again."

She sighed, almost preparing herself for another lecture. Cloudystar wanted an honest answer? Freepaw would _give_ him one.

"Honestly? I wasn't going with him to the clans at first. Me and my brother, his name is Flint, we were going to travel together, that's what he's always wanted to do. But when we told Blackclaw…I dunno, he just looked so sad. We had just lost our Mother too, so…I dunno, guess that made me want to stick with him."

"Don't get me wrong though. I'm not just here out of pity. Flint can handle himself….honestly?" Freepaw gave the grass below her a quick swipe, growling. "I probably would have just slowed him down. But when I told Blackclaw I was going with him? The way his eyes lit up…for those last few days at our old home, he was like a totally different cat. That's when he started talking more and more about the stories he learned about during the Great Return."

"And…that was what made me feel like I had made the right decision. Hearing all those stories…I wanted to be a part of one. I wanted something more then just travelling or-or whatever it was that Flint was planning. It's a selfish reason, but I-"

"And your father has been the one training you? Up until you got here?" Cloudystar asked, leaning a little closer to her.

Freepaw nodded, only now just realising that Redrose had turned back from his plants to look at the two of them, a questioning look on his face.

"Alright…welp! Your punishment has been decided!" Cloudystar said cheerfully.

Redrose tilted his head, thinking but then shook his head. "Okay, I got nothing. What are you planning and should I be worried?"

If Cloudystar was going to answer, he didn't do it in time. Blackclaw and Stillstone entered the medicine-den once again, Stillstone saying something about putting a squirrel aside. Freepaw was too concerned with this punishment thing to listen to her properly. Had Cloudystar thought her reasons weren't good enough? Was he going to exile her? He wouldn't do that…right?

Hearing her fathers voice however? That was enough for her to listen in.

"Cloudystar, please tell me that you've sorted something out." Blackclaw hissed. Freepaw didn't like seeing that her father's mood was slowly creeping into the 'angry' zone.

"As a matter of fact? I have." Cloudystar rose to his full height and looked to Stillstone. "Stillstone. We both know your one of the most capable warriors in the clan. But I think we can both agree that Freepaw isn't the usual apprentice. She wasn't raised in the clans so she might need more of an unconventional apprenticeship."

For a brief moment, Stillstone looked like she had begun to deflate, but it was barely noticeable. The next second she was once again standing proudly and gave a firm nod. "I understand, Cloudystar. You'll hear no objections from me."

Suddenly, something in Freepaw's head clicked. Was…was Cloudystar going to switch her mentor to…

Cloudystar smiled contentedly. "Alright then, that settles it. Freepaw. You'll be training with me from now on, got it?"

In that moment, four different reactions happened, all of varying emotions.

Freepaw simply blinked, the leaders words not registering with her properly. That had been…not at all what she had been expecting.

Blackclaw on the other hand? He both hadn't been expecting it and let it clearly register with him, expressing his thoughts beginning with, "You're going to _what_? She needs more discipline not-"

Stillstone seemed to age a few moons in mere seconds, closing her eyes and muttering, "Cloudy, that's not a punishment, if anything you're-"

And Redrose? Well, he decided he had had quite enough of the situation and decided to pop out for a short walk away. It was probably going to be awhile before he got his medicine-den back.

"Warriors." He rolled his eyes, swishing his tale in an arc while leaving the den, swaggering out the noise filled den.

* * *

**Cats &Characters**

_(Redrose)_

_Few medicine-cats would worry about looking good while doing their work, but Redrose believes that, while appearances may not be everything, they are DEFINITLY something. Whatever this medicine-cat does, he tries to do it while looking as good as possible._

_The tom is full of compliments and loves to hand them out while doing his work. Some cats enjoy this while others find it rather annoying. Regardless, as he is yet to take an apprentice, their only choice is Redrose. No matter his style, he is quite a skilled medicine-cat._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stillstone has had a really, REALLY long day...night...whatever.
> 
> Also, wow, if you're reading this on AO3 then this is first note thingy I've left. Thanks for reading this far! Still getting use to this website so sorry if something goes wrong with it.
> 
> Anyway yeah, this chapter is pretty short. Dunno if that's a good thing or a bad thing but the next few are gonna be longer. We're getting into the thick of things now.
> 
> Next weekend? Shadowclan gets to investigating the rogues. And if they don't like them? Well...Emerald and his gang may need to find a new spot to live.
> 
> But also, before that, there's gonna be another chapter posted...Wednesday? Friday? We're going to be traveling away from the clans to see what else might being going on in the world. Now THAT one will be shorter then usual. Think of it like a mini-chapter.
> 
> So yeah. Hope you enjoyed and I'll see ya then.


	9. Interval: A Cure To Boredom

Zip whipped around, hearing a thud as something entered the alley.

Sometimes, you just had to take risks, you know? Sometimes those risks were…not for any good reason. Sometimes you just did something risky out of pure boredom and sometime that risks just didn't work out.

Zip was bored. Like. A LOT of the the time. He loved his owners of course. Free food, free sleeping spots, free…warmness? And all he had to do was show them affection from time to time. It was a good life and he liked it…for the most part.

But sometimes…day after day in that house? Oh, it was just so boring sometimes! Sure, they let him out into the garden, but he never tried going too far. When he did that they called him back and what kind of house cat doesn't follow an order?

Well…Zip, as of some time ago. He had ignored the cries of his owner and ran as quickly and as far as he could. He just wanted to explore a bit and then he'd be back.

And what was it Zip had found, out in what his mother had once told him was a cold, cruel world?

Food. Wonderful, delicious, free food. It had taken him a bit of walking but eventually he had found an alleyway with large metal cylinders full of food, some toppled over, others, not so much. The gruel that Zip's owners fed him was nice of course, but all these random scraps and pieces weren't just a change of pace; it was like he had discovered treasure.

But it was clear good things couldn't last forever. And the sound of something entering the alley might as well have been that bell that woke his owners up; it put him in a bad mood. Excepet, where his human felt grumpy at the interrupting sound, Zip felt fear.

That made sense, right?

Well, that fear only increased when two cats emerged, both impressively huge for what must have been other house-cats, judging by the collars around their necks.

The large brown one let out a very bark like laugh. "Well, well, well. Looks like we got a thief on our hands. And what is it we do to thieves, Bash?"

The second cat, Bash apparently, squinted at the first cat. "Eh? I dunno, what do we do to em, Bolt?"

"Oh, I'll tell ya what we do to em, OH, I'll tell ya what we do to em! If any cat dumb enough to steal from our territory comes along we- hey, HEY COME BACK HERE!"

 _Of course_ Zip started running. The two beastly-looking cats had made it clear that they were going to do something horrible to him for ' _stealing_ ' and if they were going to talk to each other, why _shouldn't_ he take the chance to run? Being clawed up by a duo of cats was NOT on the list of things that would cure his boredom.

…well. He wasn't bored any more, but he would have preffered to move on to something that _wasn't_ absolute terror.

That feeling only intensified when he heard the sound of claws scratching against the dark path that the twolegs must have built such a long time ago. Zip was just thankful that there were none of those metal monsters travelling the path right now. He was already being chased by two dangerous beings, he REALLY did not need a third.

His twoleg's nest. He just had to get back to his twoleg's nest and then they could…kick the cats or something. There was no way the two of them were going to chase him _into_ the house right? This was Zip's thoughts as he took a sharp turn, stumbling over the odd blocks that twolegs used as barriers. Picking himself up, he risked a look behind him to see the larger cat chasing him and…and without his accomplice? Oh, that couldn't be good. And the look that the cat was giving him…

Shuddering, he picked himself and scampered along the road, his eyes now shifting about to look for the other cat. Where could they have gone? Was…was only one chasing him? Zip was sure he had heard the sounds of two chasing him…had he imagined it? But what if he hadn-

OH NO, THERE WERE TWO OF THEM!

Ahead, the second monsterious cat rounded the corner, the same hungry look in his eyes and a wicked grin on his face, cutting Zip off from his home. Thinking quickly (And with little choice), he took a sharp turn, running up a path to an unknown house. It look battered and beaten, something Zip hoped wasn't a sign of things to come.

He ducked under the fence, hearing the laughs of cats behind him, finding himself in a garden of overgrown grass and plant. He dove into said grass, crawling through it. He just had to stay quiet. Besides, what were the chances that-

"HEY, THIEF! WHERE YA HIDING? I LOVE A HUNT, BUT THIS IS GOING ON A BIT LONG FOR MY TASTS!"

Zip let out a weak whimper and began to hobble backwards, stopping when his tail hit the fence of the garden. This was it….the end of the line. Unless they gave up and left he was going to…to…to…

"Oof!"

A squeak was what emerged from Zip's mouth this time, a cat landing next to him. He prepared himself for a clawing, for something, but instead an…odd smell met his nose. It was the smell of…of things he didn't know about. It smelled somewhat like the gardens that hid behind the houses of the twoleg place but far more…natural. As if it had lost some sort of lesser essence.

More importantly, it smelled nothing like the two cats who had been chasing him.

He raised his head from his paws, having put it there in a weak form of defence. Sitting beside him was an oddly thin, black-furred cat. He didn't have a collar, his fur being wild and spiky, fitting the cat's eyes. For when the new cat turned to face him, his Amber eyes seemed to almost be laughing at Zip in a wild manner.

"Oh, good." The wild-cat spoke. "This makes things WAY easier. Thought I would have to-"

"Please be quiet. I-if they hear you they'll hurt both of us!" Zip begged. "I-I-I don't even know how you got here!"

The wild cat muttered something that sounded oddly like the words "Kittypets." Before continuing. "Thought I smelled fear. Well whatever. I climbed over the fence, obviously. Now. What's bothering ya?"

Zip didn't have to answer, the yowl of one of the cats speaking for him. "ALRIGHT, I'M GETTING SICK OF THIS! GET OUT HERE NOW, THIEF, AND WE MIGHT NOT-"

Whatever the cat was going to end the threat with, the wild-cat spoke first. "Ah. Okay, got it. Wait here."

Zip opened his mouth to protest, but whoever this cat was, he practically swaggered out into a less dense area of the garden, not even nearly a good hiding spot. What was this cat thinking? Zip inched forward, barely risking poking his head out of the grass to watch the odd cat.

With a click of his tongue, the wild-cat sat down. "Hey. You two over here."

Though Zip couldn't see them, the voices of the two chasers was clear. "Well, well, well. Didn't expect to find another cat round here. Look, we ain't here to cause trouble for you, we're looking for a no good-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get the picture. So what, that little furball stole something from you?" The wild-cat snickered. His eyes were locked onto something out of Zip's view.

"…that's it. Yeah. Now how about you run along and we-"

"This stealing thing." The cat interrupted once again. "Did he take it from right under your noses. Or was it in a more…" He thought for a moment. "…crafty sense?"

One of the chasers was getting annoyed now. "He took what was ours from our territory! That means that we get-"

"And that's all I needed to hear." The wild-cat sat up. "So, you two got territory? You the-" He seemed to hide a laugh. "- _strongest cats_ around here?"

Silence for a moment. And then, in an interested growl, the chaser spoke.

"Yeah, maybe we are. But I don't like the way ya said it. You looking for a beating?"

The wild-cat shrugged, strutting forward, out of Zip's sight. "Nah. Just use to a better type of fighter really…"

"That's it come ere you lil-"

Zip sunk back into the grass and closed his eyes. A series of yowls and yells assaulted his ears and Zip couldn't help but cringe. But next? Grunts of confusion, followed by a screech of pain and a yell of, "BOLT! You-"

There was the only the sound of one cat grunting and yowling now, but now there were traces of fear in those cries that tried to sound brave. And when Zip really focused, trying to get a sense of what could be going on out there, he could hear…whimpering?

"NO PLEASE, I DON'T WANT TO-"

"Shhhhhhhhh, calm down."

There were few sounds now. Nervous breath and pained whimpering seemed to somehow echo through the garden. Zip risked poking his head complety out of the grass and took in the sight before him.

The small chat who had been chasing him lay on the ground, the whimpering coming from his shivering form. He held a paw up to his left eye, both his paw and the ground he lay on stained red, the same colour flowing from his eye, despite his best efforts. When he met Zip's gaze he closed his one good eye and Zip was happy to oblige him by looking away.

The wild cat stood triumphant, his front paw pressing down on the neck of the larger cat, whispering to him.

"Now, you said you were the strongest? Now, I'd recommend you _not_ lie for this next part or something VERY bad is going to happen to you. Now, you _thought_ you owned some territory in this place, so let me ask a question. Is there a large, wooden building near here? Probably old and abandoned, few-" He scoffed. "-Wild cats living there?"

"T-t-the barn? You're not suppose to go-"

"Finally…" The wild-cat purred. "Now there's some good news." He looked back to Zip, almost causing him to dive back into the grass. "Guess I won't have to ask you after all. I'm done here…"

The cat below his paws whispered. "You're…you're not going to-"

"Hm? Oh, right! Almost forgot!" He leaned in close to the cat beneath him, and Zip saw him place his paws in an odd position on the cat's leg. "Wouldn't be fair, would it? I mess up your buds eye and you walk away with just a scratch or two. Sides, this can be a reminder. Kittypets aren't suppose to have territory."

"What's a-"

*SNAP*

Zip shut his eyes and cringed again, hearing the scream burst through the air around him and for a moment, Zip couldn't have felt sorrier for the two cats who had been chasing him not even five minutes ago. The scream persisted, but slowly quieted down, leaving the sound of two whimpering cats in the garden.

And when Zip opened his eyes, he muffled a whimper of his own, the wild-cat having moved within a step of Zip, the same mocking eyes scanning Zip's collar.

"Welp." The cat nodded. "See ya." With that, he turned and trotted happily out of the garden.

And then, Zip did something that, looking back at it, was rather stupid and probably could have gotten him in more trouble then letting himself be caught by the cats earlier; Zip chased after the cat with a call of, "W-wait!"

Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you looked at it, the wild-cat had heard him, waiting for Zip as he ducked under the garden's fence onto the street once again.

"Walk and talk." The wild-cat said simply. "I gotta find some grub."

He took off walking at a speed that forced Zip to jog alongside him just to keep up. "H-how did you do that? There were two of them and…and you just-"

Whoever this cat was, he now looked awfully pleased with himself. "Oh, that? Cmon, those guys were just kittypets, and not particular strong ones either. Any warrior who earned the title could have done twice the damage I did to those two."

"W-warrior?" Zip asked. "Is…is that what you are?"

"Pffff, nah….well…not really. I got the training of one, but I ain't gone through apprenticeship, ain't part of a clan…" He laughed again. "Ah, listen to me. I bet you don't understand half the words coming out of my mouth."

"N-not really, s-sir." Zip stuttered.

"Hah! Sir? Cmon, you don't need to call me that." The cat spun on his heel and placed a paw on Zip's head, stopping him.

"Long story short? I'm from _very_ far away and I got the training to shred _any_ kittypet who thinks they wanna have a try, you're one of those, heads up. I'm here looking for a cat and now I know where that cat is. But first?" He lifted his paw from Zip's head. "Food. See ya."

Zip sat, dumbstruck, watching the the cat get further and further away. He looked so…confidant. As if wandering the streets was of no concern to him whatsoever. He was free to do what he liked and didn't need to run and hide in some grass like Zip did….or…if Zip had him on his side.

"H-hey!" Zip called, half his mind still telling him that this was a horrible idea. "M-my twolegs are going to feed me when I get back! You could come along if you want? I don't know if you eat the stuff but…"

This was a downright lie. Even if Zip showed up now, he wasn't going to get his food until the sun began to dip over the horizon. But if he whined to his twolegs enough, maybe he could? And then maybe, just maybe, this cat would walk the streets with him, if only for a little while…more importantly…

Zip wouldn't be bored any more.

The cat stopped, thinking for a moment…before turning and walking back towards Zip. "Kittypet mush, eh? Well, not like I haven't had it before. Sure."

Taking the tiniest, smallest step back, Zip quickly added. "B-but, you can't do any of…that stuff you did! C-cause then my twolegs will get mad at you and-"

Another scoff. "Buddy. I only do _that_ to cats who aren't my friends." He leaned closer to Zip and winked. "So how about it. Wanna be friends?"

"Y-yes!" Zip squeaked.

"Cool." The cat leaned back. "Then lead the way, friend."

And as they began their walk, Zip found it in himself to speak up. "M-my name is Zip b-by the way. Do you mind if I ask you yours?"

"Not at all."

"…"

"…"

"…"

The cat smiled at him. "….well. Ya gonna ask?"

"O-oh, um, what's your name."

He laughed once again, shaking his head. "Names Flint. Now cmon, _Zip_. I feel like I could eat an entire _nest_ of birds."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a nice fellow. I sure hope he has the best of intentions.
> 
> No Cats&Characters this time. This is a little break between chapters, though there still will be a chapter on Saturday, unless something comes up.
> 
> Sorry if this one feels...I dunno, off? There's something about it but I can't place my finger on it. Ah well.
> 
> Another short one of these will probably happen at some point, but just keep Flint and Zip in the back of your mind when you're reading for now. Or don't. I ain't the boss of you. 
> 
> Trust me, it'll all come together at some point, I'm sure.
> 
> (Real quick edited after I first posted this. With life and school getting in the way, I will have to take a break from this. Stuff gets hard and I gotta put my all into it, ya know?) 
> 
> Hope ya enjoyed!


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